‘He has permanent brain damage’: Man remains hospitalized following attack outside Sacramento club
By Web Staff
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SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — Weeks after a Halloween party, a Sacramento resident remains hospitalized after an attack that the Sacramento Police Department is investigating as a hate crime.
The attack happened after 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 1 at Badlands Sacramento, one of the city’s most prominent LGBT+ friendly nightclubs. Officers who went to the Lavender Heights district found a man with serious injuries.
Andrea Prasad told KCRA 3 that she went to Badlands with her father, Alvin Prasad, whom she described as being very close to. They were celebrating Halloween with their friend Jonathon Wisniske and left the club around 2 a.m. when they were approached by a man as they were heading back to their car.
“A guy walked past me and my dad and just called him weird, insulted him for the way he was dressed. My dad is gay, and he likes to dress up a lot when going out dancing. So he was dressed more flamboyantly,” Andrea Prasad recalled.
Andrea Prasad said her father turned to confront the man and asked Jonathon to check on him. Wisniske said Andrea had not even finished her sentence when he saw the man cock back and punch Alvin Prasad “right in the forehead.”
“My dad hit the ground pretty quickly,” Andrea Prasad said. “The back of his head hit the concrete.”
After the initial punch, Wisniske said he threw himself in the middle of them and confronted the man.
“He cocks back again to punch me,” Wisniske recalled, explaining that he punched back in self-defense. “I wasn’t going to let him go. The first thing I said to him was, ‘Why are you running?’ That’s when he went into the street.”
After the confrontation ended, Wisniske said he rushed back to help Alvin Prasad, noting that he saw blood underneath his head.
Alvin Prasad has been in the hospital ever since that night. Andrea Prasad said he is in a coma and has permanent brain damage.
“He’s never going to be who he was,” Andrea Prasad said. “He can’t express himself, can’t go out dancing.”
That night has also been traumatic for Wisniske, who said he can’t even look at his hands without seeing Alvin Prasad’s blood on them.
Police said they arrested 24-year-old Sean Payton in connection with the attack. He faces a felony charge for assault with great bodily injury with a hate crime enhancement and a misdemeanor charge for resisting arrest, according to a complaint obtained by KCRA 3.
As her father recovers, Andrea Prasad remains overwhelmed by a mix of emotions, one of them anger.
“I don’t understand why someone would choose to do something to someone they don’t even know,” Andrea Prasad said.
When asked what she would tell her dad, she said that she would tell him that she misses him, wants him to get better, a lot of people care about him and that “he should still be happy and proud to be gay.”
“Last thing I said to him was the dimmest light shines brightest in the dark, that he’s that light and that he should keep shining,” Wisniske said.
Payton is due in court on Monday.
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