One angry straight customer left the Happyfun Hideaway, a popular Brooklyn gay bar, neither happy nor having had fun, in the custody of the NYPD. Police say he had threatened to “come back Orlando style” after being ejected, and picked a fight with the bouncer.
Justin Rice and a woman described as his girlfriend were having a loud argument at the Bushwick dive bar Monday night, reported the New York Daily News, when the bouncer came over and told them they were becoming a nuisance.
Rice, 40, apparently didn’t calm down, despite the warning, and the 34-year-old bouncer then reportedly told them they had to leave, around 11:15 p.m.
That’s when the paper says Rice went from obnoxious to homophobic, shouting, “You fucking faggots,” according to the newspaper’s police sources. “I’m going to shoot this place up and get my fifty just like Orlando, Florida. I’m going to come back Orlando-style!”
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Rice reportedly tried punching the bouncer but landed only a glancing blow, then picked up a metal bucket filled with sand, and threw it at at him. Before long, the bouncer had Rice restrained and held him until police arrived.
Police charged Rice with assault and aggravated harassment. According to the paper, the bouncer suffered only minor scrapes as well as a bruise from the bucket.
