Shia LaBeouf’s arrest in New Orleans in the early hours of Tuesday, as the city’sMardi Grascelebrations were underway, is facing fresh scrutiny, as an alleged victim of the actor’s rampage that night says he was targeted in the confrontation, which he is characterizing as an alleged hate crime.

The altercation that took place 15 minutes after midnight at R Bar in the city’s Faubourg Marigny neighborhood — video of which circulated widely online, showing a belligerent LaBeouf’s Jekyll and Hyde display ashe was restrained outside the bar— left two bartenders injured and the actor facing two counts of simple assault;he was quickly released by early afternoon Tuesdayon his own recognizance. He is due back in court on March 19.Related StoriesNewsShia LaBeouf Breaks Silence After Mardi Gras Arrest: "Free Me"NewsShia LaBeouf Released From Jail In New Orleans After Mardi Gras Bar Fight

Jeffrey “Dammit,” a longtime local fixture and master of ceremonies at various New Orleans events, is also a Screen Actors Guild member who now resides and works in Hollywood most of the year. He toldThe Hollywood Reporteron Wednesday that he makes multiple trips back to New Orleans annually; he first moved to The Big Easy in 1995 and over the years, has taken various bartending jobs, including at R Bar. He said that his initial confrontation with theTransformersstar began hours before the now-viral street scuffle.

“He smashed into me, knocking me into some boxes,” Jeffrey explained of his first encounter with LaBeouf around 5 p.m. on Monday. “Then he turned around screaming, ‘Don’t you fucking push me. I’ll kill you.’ I hadn’t touched him.” Jeffrey said he attempted to defuse the situation but alleges LaBeouf escalated things, putting a finger in his face and calling him a homophobic slur.

“He said he’d ‘kick my ass’ and called me a faggot,” Jeffrey said. “I told him I wasn’t going to fight him. I wasn’t giving him that.”

LaBeouf was in and out of the bar throughout Monday evening and appeared highly intoxicated. When he returned to the bar around midnight, he recalled, the situation had intensified.

“He was screaming at a bartender and had to be escorted outside,” Jeffrey said. “Once outside, he started pacing in the street, yelling, ‘You’re all a bunch of fucking faggots. I’ll kick your ass.’” Jeffrey said he briefly intervened when a shirtless LaBeouf lunged at a staff member.

“I grabbed him and held him for less than a minute so he wouldn’t beat up the bartender,” he said. “The bartender told me to let go, and I did.”

Moments later, he alleges, LaBeouf punched a second bartender in the face, breaking his nose. Video clips from outside the bar show LaBeouf being restrained as he continues shouting.

“He kept trying to get up and fight people,” Jeffrey said. “He wouldn’t stop screaming slurs. That’s why I say this wasn’t just a bar fight. This was about hate.”

Source: Drudge Report