Victim claims waiter broke his jaw, assailants yelled anti-gay slurs
Cory Weddington spent a day in Parkland’s emergency room after being attacked at XTC.
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Cory Weddington said that he and his two female friends had been inside a North Dallas strip club for only a few minutes on Friday night, April 1, when he was attacked by a waiter and security personnel, who yelled anti-gay slurs as they assaulted him.
Police are investigating the altercation and Weddington has retained an attorney as he considers legal action against the club. The waiter from the club allegedly filed a report against Weddington on Tuesday, April 5, only after learning that Weddington plans to file charges.
Weddington said that as soon as he and his two friends walked into the XTC straight strip club, the two women went to the restroom. He waited outside the bathroom door for them, and when they came out, the three went downstairs and found a table with two chairs near the stage. The women sat, Weddington said, and he stood between them.
That’s when a woman tapped Weddington’s friend Kim on the shoulder, and said, “You can’t sit there.” They ignored her, he said, but she persisted, telling him the table was reserved.
Weddington said someone he first thought was a bouncer but later discovered was a waiter came up to him from behind and slapped him hard on the chest, saying, “Hey, you can’t be there.”
Weddington said he responded, “If you don’t want me there, that’s fine. Don’t slap me on the chest.”
But before he and his two friends could get up to leave, Weddington said, the waiter shoved him to the floor, then kneed him in the jaw. Then others joined in.
“One of the security people jumped on me,” Weddington recalled. “Another guy started punching and kicking me.”
Before it was over, Weddington said, four or five men were attacking him. He tried to protect his face during the attack that lasted, he estimated, for five to seven minutes.
“I pretended to be knocked out,” he said.
Then as Weddington was leaving the club, he said, the waiter that initiated the attacked shouted, “Get that faggot out of here.”
Once outside, security — who represented themselves as police officers, Weddington said, were of little help. One of the supposed officers told Weddington’s female friends that if they didn’t get him off the XTC property, he would be taken to jail. A Dallas police spokeswoman has said that Dallas PD officers are not allowed to work off-duty as security at XTC.
Weddington said he suggested to one of the “police officers” that they “call me an ambulance,” but instead, his friends drove him home.
Weddington, who lives with his grandmother and brother, said his brother didn’t like the way he looked when he got home.
But it wasn’t until Weddington began having a seizure, that his brother drove him to Baylor Scott & White Hospital Irving.
Because he has no insurance, Weddington said, Baylor seemed anxious to transfer him to Parkland Hospital, but he had another seizure before changing hospitals.
Parkland kept Weddington for a day, and he has follow-up appointments scheduled with specialists there. He’s seeing a neurologist for an MRI to look for the cause of the seizures and make sure there’s no bleeding in his brain. He’s also being treated for a broken nose and a hairline fracture in his jaw.
On Wednesday, he spoke to Dallas Police detectives who said this is an ongoing investigation.
Kasey Krummel is acting as Weddington’s attorney. She said there’s more to the story than she knows, “but I’m not sure any of it could justify broken bones.”
On Tuesday, April 5, Krummel put a litigation hold on video footage from inside and outside XTC. She said she wants to see everything that went on, although she expects the loud music and other noise will prevent her from hearing the specific altercation that preceded the attack or even the attacker calling her client as faggot as he was leaving.
Krummel said there were a lot of witnesses, though, so she expects someone to come forward.
Krummel said she also expects an arrest in the case, but she said it depends on how Weddington chooses to pursue the matter.
Whether or not hate crime charges are filed or pursued as part of civil litigation, Krummel said Weddington definitely has a personal injury claim against the club and its employees. Compensation would include pain, suffering and mental anguish and payment of medical bills that are already in the tens of thousands of dollars.
If hate crime charges are added to any assault charges, Krummel said, that would add leverage to any claims for punitive damages.
Krummel also filed a cease and desist against the club and its employees for harassing Weddington on social media.
XTC Cabaret Dallas is owned by a publicly-traded firm, RCI Hospitality Holdings, headquartered in Houston. XTC operates without a liquor license, which allows the club to operate until 5 a.m. and have full nudity. The XTC brand has clubs in Austin, Houston and San Antonio. The corporation operates under 12 other names as well, including Rick’s with eight locations including in Dallas and Fort Worth and out-of-state in New York and Minneapolis, and Club Onyx in Philadelphia and Charlotte as well as Dallas and Houston.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition April 1, 2016.
