Aspen Police Department
A social-media and reality TV star charged with assaulting a gay man at an Aspen hotel in December returned to town Tuesday, though a hearing in his case was postponed until this summer.
Cameron Dallas, 24, appeared in Pitkin County District Court on Tuesday morning but a preliminary hearing to determine whether probable cause exists to charge him with felony assault was rescheduled for June.
Pat Mika, Dallas’ Colorado Springs-based attorney, said the main reason for the delay was because his investigator had emergency back surgery.
Dallas — an actor and singer with millions of followers on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and a reality TV series on Netflix — was arrested by Aspen police Dec. 29 at the Hyatt Grand Aspen. He allegedly assaulted a 34-year-old man who hit on Dallas’ male friend.
Dallas told police he and his 19-year-old friend allowed the other man to come to their room to charge his phone late that night. Dallas then left the room and returned 30 minutes later to discover that the 34-year-old made sexual advances on his friend.
That prompted Dallas to tell the man to leave, though he refused, causing Dallas to lose his temper and punch him several times in the face and head, according to documents filed in court. Mika also has said the alleged victim was the aggressor, which forced Dallas to protect himself.
The 34-year-old man’s Aspen attorney, however, has said his client was never asked to leave the hotel room, and that Dallas “sucker-punched” the man and attacked him without provocation. The man plans to sue Dallas in the near future, Ryan Kalamaya, his attorney, said Tuesday.