Call it a case of mistaken sexual identity. You can also call it aggravated battery.
Boca resident John Richard Shannon, 20, has been charged with a hate crime for knocking a man unconscious because he was gay.
According to the West Palm Beach police report, the victim wasn't gay -- but he sure was assaulted.
The trouble started in the bar of the Hotel Biba on South Dixie Highway. The victim was with friends when, according to a police report, Shannon "began to argue with him about being a homosexual."
Eyewitness reports say Shannon declared he "hates f------."
He then displayed one of his hands, which was in a cast, telling the man that the cast was the result of "beating up a f-----."
The man defended himself and his friends, who are gay, incensing Shannon.
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Onlookers say Shannon began screaming and jumping up and down until a hotel employee asked him to go outside.
Shannon complied, but shortly returned through a back entrance. He then punched the man in the face with his hand in a cast, knocking him out.
Though his lawyer said on Friday that the case was not as it seems, police say Shannon admitted to detectives on Thursday that he did punch the man, and that he might have uttered the homophobic slur.
One witness who knew Shannon identified him as the assailant, and another witness identified him in a photo lineup.
Shannon was to enlist in the army on Sunday. Instead, he is being held on $25,000 bond, charged with aggravated battery super-sized by "evidencing prejudice while committing offense."
