The Aspen lawyer representing the man beaten and injured at a downtown hotel last month by a social media and reality-TV star said Tuesday his client was attacked without provocation.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Cameron Dallas) sucker-punched my client then repeatedly hit him when he was on the ground,\u201d said Ryan Kalamaya, who is contemplating filing a civil lawsuit against Dallas.<\/p>\n
Dallas\u2019 attorney, however, denied those accusations and reiterated that the alleged victim was the aggressor and refused to leave Dallas\u2019 hotel room.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that point, he became an intruder (in the hotel room) and he became aggressive and Mr. Dallas had to protect himself and other people in the premises,\u201d said Pat Mika, a Colorado Springs-based attorney.<\/p>\n
Mika appeared Tuesday in Pitkin County District Court on behalf of his client \u2014 Dallas was not present in court \u2014 and asked to schedule a preliminary hearing. District Judge Chris Seldin set the hearing for April 16, and will decide at that time whether probable cause exists to charge Dallas with felony assault.<\/p>\n
Dallas, an actor and singer, has millions of followers on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and stars in the Netflix reality TV show \u201cChasing Cameron.\u201d<\/p>\n
The\u00a0incident occurred at the Hyatt Grand Aspen<\/a>\u00a0in the early-morning hours of Dec. 29. When Aspen police officers arrived at the hotel, a 34-year-old man who was bleeding from the nose told them he\u2019d just been assaulted, though he was soon taken by ambulance to Aspen Valley Hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n Dallas later told an Aspen police officer that he and a 19-year-old friend were visiting from Los Angeles and had been at Bootsy Bellows nightclub in downtown Aspen with several other friends earlier that night. The 34-year-old man \u201cinvolved himself\u201d with the group of friends, one of whom later invited the man back to the Hyatt, Dallas told police, according to court documents.<\/p>\n The 34-year-old man later asked Dallas and his 19-year-old friend if he could charge his phone in their room, and they agreed. After five minutes in the room, Dallas left, returned 30 minutes later and \u201cimmediately got a weird vibe,\u201d he told police.<\/p>\n The 19-year-old told him the other man made sexual advances on him while Dallas was gone, prompting Dallas to tell the man to leave their room, according to the story he told police. The 34-year-old man, however, refused and \u201ckept getting weird\u201d until Dallas admitted that he lost his temper and punched the man several times in the face and head, the court documents state.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately sometimes in life you find yourself in a situation where you have to protect yourself and the people you care about,\u201d Dallas wrote in a Dec. 31 Twitter post that accompanied his Pitkin County Jail mugshot.<\/p>\n Kalamaya, the 34-year-old\u2019s lawyer, told a different story Tuesday, saying his client was never asked to leave the hotel room. Further, Dallas\u2019 \u201coutrageous conduct\u201d makes him liable not only for his client\u2019s medical expenses but also for so-called \u201cpunitive damages,\u201d including pain and suffering, he said.<\/p>\n Mika, however, said \u201ca number of witnesses\u201d told the 34-year-old man to leave at least four times.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was told numerous times to leave,\u201d Mika said. \u201cHe refused to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Under Colorado law, a person has a right to protect himself from an intruder, which is what Dallas did, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still gathering information,\u201d Mika said. \u201cBut all the witnesses we\u2019ve interviewed have told a completely different version (of the story) than (the alleged victim).\u201d<\/p>\n Kalamaya took issue with Mika\u2019s interpretation of Colorado law, saying a person must unlawfully break into a room or building to be considered an \u201cintruder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was an invited guest,\u201d Kalamaya said. \u201cNothing (in the law) says you can beat them repeatedly in the head and break their nose.\u201d<\/p>\n