Gay YouTuber Arrested After Claiming Hate Crimes Were Committed Against Him

#1

Calum McSwiggan is a 26-year-old Youtuber dedicated to the LGBT lifestyle, recently he posted to Instagram stating that he was attacked outside a gay club in West Hollywood. He claims that the police showed up but instead of helping they arrested him. Problem is that the police tell a completely different story.

#2

Along with the picture who wrote "Last night was the worst night of my life and I'm really struggling to find the words to talk about it. After one of the most wonderful weekends at VidCon we went out to a gay club to celebrate, and towards the end of the evening I was separated from my friends and beaten up by three guys. The authorities should have been there to help and protect me but instead they treated me like a second class citizen. With three broken teeth and six stitches in my forehead, I've never felt so terrified to be a gay man in the public eye. All I can do is thank my wonderful YouTube friends for being with me the whole way. I'd be lost without them. Right now I don't feel that I'm in the right place to talk about this but I will be addressing this fully in the future."

#3

Pretty sad story, right? With the FBI releasing statistics showing that gays are the most likely to be targets of a hate crime it's a believable story, but the LA Sheriff's department tells their own story about what actually happened. Turns out that they showed up at the gay club to find McSwiggan vandalizing a car, after he was arrested they found him using the pay phone inside the holding cell to beat himself in the face with.

#4

The Sheriff released this official statement: "The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has an affirmative duty to fully investigate all assaults and reports of violence in our community. Deputies from West Hollywood Station responded to and investigated the report by Calum McSwiggan that he was assaulted by three males after leaving a local nightclub early Monday morning. Responding deputies were unable to substantiate the assault. Mr. McSwiggan, who had no visible injuries, was subsequently arrested after deputies observed him vandalizing a car in the 8900 block of Santa Monica Boulevard. After being booked and photographed, Mr. McSwiggan was placed into a cell by himself at West Hollywood Station. Mr. McSwiggan was then observed injuring himself with the handle and receiver to a payphone inside the cell. Medical personnel were summoned and Mr. McSwiggan was transported to a local hospital for treatment. Mr. McSwiggan's booking photo was taken prior to deputies seeing Mr. McSwiggan injuring himself. That booking photo is attached."

As a result the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has charged McSwiggan with one misdemeanor count of filing a false report of a criminal offense. If convicted he can see a maximum of 364 days of jail time. Of course McSwiggan is sticking to his story and actually has expanded on it a bit while he continue to claims innocence.

He wrote on his Facebook page "Just because there were no visible marks on my face does not mean I was not attacked. I only hurt myself to get out of the jail cell."

"Many people are trying to discredit my story but this is the full and entire truth," he wrote. McSwiggan claimed a man had flirted with him, lured him to a dark parking lot, then punched him in the face. "I blacked out quickly after this but remember being kicked in the body multiple times, I believe by all three men."

After getting up McSwiggan claims that the car he was vandalizing belonged to the men that had assaulted him. "Being accused of being a liar and being called a disgrace to the LGBT+ community, a community I've dedicated my life to, is more painful than any hate crime could ever be."

My biggest question is that if he didn't know the guy who flirted with him and he punched him in the face once he got him alone in the parking lot then how did he know what car they were driving in order to vandalize it? Personally I think McSwiggan is screwed, his story has too many holes in it and admitting that he beat himself will be the nail in the coffin.