Fight between drag queens highlights inadequate security

It sounds like something you might hear on a tabloid news show but according to Wilton Manors, Florida, police records, two men got into a fight during an outdoor Halloween costume party which left one man facing a felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Documents show that in 2012 the defendant showed up to the celebration at Georgie’s Alibi in Wilton Manors, Florida, dressed as a Ku Klux Klansman in full regalia while also clutching a large cross and a lighted tiki torch. The victim was also in costume for the event, dressed as a female impersonator known as Dame Edna Everage while also serving as one of the MCs on the club’s stage.

According to a statement the victim provided to police four hours after the incident, he asked the defendant to extinguish his tiki torch out of fear that the open flame might ignite his flammable costume and hair spray treated wig. The defendant refused and made several jabbing motions at the victim with the lighted torch which caused a scuffle and resulted in the defendant pulling him off the stage and injuring his knee in the process. Security eventually managed to break up the fight after the victim’s wig had been ripped off.

Conversely, the defendant says that the victim simply did not like his costume, which he meant as a jab toward the KKK, and threw several punches at him and fell down after attempting to kick the defendant in the testicles.

Another witness who claims to not know either party offered her sworn deposition to police on Dec. 19, 2012, and largely corroborates the defendant’s portrayal of the victim as the actual aggressor. Somehow that potentially exculpatory information did not make its way to the defendant until March of this year. It remains unclear if the State’s Attorney’s office intends to proceed with this case.

All jokes aside, this case actually involves someone being injured. Most importantly, that harm may have been caused in part by the establishment’s inadequate security. The victim in this case may want to consult with an attorney and see if the club had a duty to exercise reasonable care by prohibiting the defendant from entering the club with a lighted tiki-torch. Alternatively, the defendant may want to know if the security acted quickly enough to prevent the fight from getting started in the first place.

Source: Broward-Palm Beach New Times, “Scuffle Between Drag Queen and Man in Klan Outfit Leads to Legal Drama” Kyle Swenson, May. 08, 2014