A YouTube personality and LGBT activist — already facing a misdemeanor count of making a false police report involving an alleged attack by three men after he left a gay bar in West Hollywood — has been charged with a felony count of vandalism with over $400 in damage, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said today.
Calum McSwiggan, 26, of London, pleaded not guilty Monday to the latest charge.
The newest criminal complaint alleges that McSwiggan damaged a car’s mirror and bumper June 27.
McSwiggan allegedly falsely reported to police on June 27 that he had been beaten by the car’s driver and two other men, according to prosecutors.
On his Twitter account in June, McSwiggan posted, “To reiterate, I did not fake this attack and am absolutely appalled that anyone would suggest or think that I did.”
He posted a longer explanation on his Facebook account in which he wrote that he left The Abbey with a guy he “took a liking to,” walked no more than five minutes away and blacked out after being punched in the mouth and kicked in the body.
“I have spent my whole adult life campaigning for LGBT+ equality and did not take this attack lightly,” he wrote in his Facebook posting. “I cannot say for 100 percent that this was because I was gay but I can’t think of any other justification for this random attack. In a moment of devastation, anger and blind rage I kicked the wing mirror of the attacker’s car until it broke and then ripped it off with my hands. I also scratched the front of the car with the broken wing mirror before returning back to The Abbey for help.”
McSwiggan said in his Facebook post that police apparently didn’t believe that he had been attacked and took him to a police station, where he hit himself once with a pay phone across the forehead in a holding cell so he could be taken to a hospital. He said that he needed six stitches for his self- inflicted injury to the head, along with three broken teeth, a cut, bruises and scrapes from the alleged attack in West Hollywood
“I’m heartbroken about the events and these have been the worst few days of my life,” he wrote in the Facebook post. “Many people are trying to discredit my story but this is the full and entire truth. Just because there were no visible marks on my face does not mean I was not attacked. Being accused of being a liar and being called a disgrace to the LGBT+ community, a community I’ve dedicated my life to, is more painful than any hate crime could be.”
He is due back at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, when a hearing is scheduled to determine if there is sufficient evidence to require him to stand trial.
If convicted as charged, he could face up to three years and six months in county jail, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
