UPDATE: DC bartender says broken neck suffered while walking home was result of an accident
WASHINGTON - Nearly three weeks, a District bartender was seriously injured while walking down a street in Northwest D.C. It was initially believed that he was attacked from behind, but it now appears his injuries were the result of an accident and police are no longer looking for a suspect.
Friends and co-workers have been rallying around a man we are only identifying as Joey, who works as a bartender at JR's Bar.
Joey was walking home from a friend's house on July 15 at around 10 p.m. along 16th Street near R Street. He would end up waking up in an ambulance and was taken to the hospital where he received eight staples in the back of his head. He also broke two bones in his neck.
Doctors said it appeared he had been hit with some sort of object from behind.
But we have now learned detectives looking into the case say there was no attack and it was all an accident.
Joey's manager at JR's Bar, a popular gay bar located several blocks away from where he was found injured lying on the ground, has been working his shifts and giving him the money earned because Joey relies on tips for his income. A GoFundMe page was also created for Joey to help him pay for his expenses after being hospitalized, which has raised more than $18,000.
Joey, who is grateful for the support he has received, wrote in an update on the GoFundMe page:
"I wanted to thank everyone for their help and support during my recovery. I also wanted to take a moment to thank MPD who has been able to shed some light on the incident. While my initial conclusions from the incident lead me to believe I was a victim of a crime, MPD was able to determine that this was indeed just an unfortunate accident. I want to thank MPD for helping me discover this, and I want to apologize to anyone who feels mislead by my initial assessment of the situation. Thank you all for your support. if you would like your money back from the gofundme page, please contact gofundme. I am truly sorry but I myself had no idea what happened and I was going on what the dr told me."