19-year-old assaulted by stranger outside Pelican Larry's bar near FGCU

The Lee County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a 19-year-old was attacked while leaving a bar named Pelican Larry's near FGCU in south Fort Myers. Michael White said he was waiting for an Uber outside the facility at 1:30 a.m. Saturday when a group of strangers in a dark-colored SUV began yelling homophobic slurs at him. “I think it was definitely a hate crime. I could tell just by the way they were screaming. They had their windows down while they were driving and they were screaming f***** because I'm bisexual, gay and they’re not OK with it,” White said. White said he ignored the strangers and moments later one of them got out of the car. and attacked him. “He was hitting me while I was on the ground, stepping on me, hitting me, hitting my face against the concrete several times,” he said. Witnesses told detectives the person who did this was another young man wearing a red shirt. with shaggy blonde hair. White said he woke up in the ICU with a brain hemorrhage and a broken nose. White said he was celebrating his 19th birthday with friends at the establishment off Ben Hill Griffin Parkway. He said Pelican Larry's is a restaurant that turns into a bar at night. Lots of FGCU students hang out there. White said he had a good time inside the bar that evening and did not get into an altercation with anyone. “If you, if you have any information about Friday night, you were in the area, you saw anything posted online, anything on social media, please contact the Lee County Sheriff's Office with information,” White said.