An arrest has been made in connection with the beating of a man outside of a gay bar in Cleveland, Ohio, that has been the site of several anti-gay incidents in recent months.

Jared Fox, 26, is a New York man who was visiting his hometown and was walking towards Cleveland Cocktails on 31 August when he was confronted by a group of about 20 youths.

‘One of them said, "Do you want to die?" and I thought, "No."’ Fox said in a tearful YouTube video describing the incident. ‘They started to just charge – they surrounded me.’

Fox says he was called a ‘faggot’ more than once, knocked to the ground and stomped on as they tried to get into his pockets. He suffered a cut on his face from where his glasses broke, a ruptured eardrum and multiple bruises.

He was finally able to get up and run and eventually made his way into the bar and the police were called.

Fox8 reports that the 17 year old was arrested Tuesday (17 September) partly due to the incident being caught on the bar’s surveillance cameras.

The teen faces robbery and felony assault charges and it is possible that a hate crime charge may be added. Police hope to make additional arrests.

In a related twist last week, the city of Cleveland sent a letter to the bar’s owner asking him to quit calling police so much.

The city’s director of the Department of Public Safety complained that in the span of 12 months, police had been called to the business nine times.

The letter to owner Brian Lyons reminding him that it costs $100 each time police are called out there.

Once the letter went public this week via social media, there was immediate backlash. Cleveland’s Director of Public Safety Marty Flask said in a letter on the city’s website: ‘If I had to do it over again, I would have handled this particular situation differently.’