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A Houston bartender, brutally beat-up in a bar restroom, an attack the bar owners believe is a hate crime, is telling his story.
Thirty-three year-old Raiel Rizk just got out of the hospital. after having 2 titanium plates surgically put into his face to repair a broken jaw.
He claims he was attacked Monday night, in the bathroom at "Uncle Albert's Pub" in west Houston, a bar he's worked at for nearly a decade.
Rizk, wasn't working that night and he did have a couple of drinks. He claims a man befriended him, asking a lot of questions about his ethnicity and religion.
Rizk is Lebanese and a moderate Muslim.
While Raiel Rizk admits the events of that night are "hazy," the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshall's office and the F.B.I. are all now investigating.
Only what happened outside the restroom was caught on surveillance video. The suspect, who is white, has not been arrested or charged, so we are not identifying him.
However, his attorney tells FOX 26 News that Rizk was the "instigator and aggressor." O'Neil Williams says his client is "disappointed" to see "false statements reported in the media used to garner sympathy and collect donations for Rizk.
He asserts, "not every fight between persons of differing races or ethnicities, is a hate crime, sometimes it's just a fight."
While Raiel Rizk admits the events of that night are "hazy," the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marshall's office and the F.B.I. are all now investigating.