Dwayne Wynn, Gay San Diego Man, Allegedly Beaten With A Baseball Bat In Possible Hate Crime

A San Diego man believes he was targeted in an alleged Christmas Eve attack that left him with a broken eye socket and three cracked ribs because he's gay.

Local ABC affiliate 10 News reports that Dwayne Wynn, a resident of San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood, also required 18 stitches in his side after being beaten by a group of unidentified men in the wee hours of Dec. 24.

"I've never been that scared in my entire life,” Wynn, who was not able to provide detailed descriptions of the suspects, told the news channel. He said he heard a car approach behind him, and turned around when a man emerged from the car and shouted an anti-gay slur.

"The last thing I see is a baseball bat being swapped right across the face," he added. “I literally thought I was going to die. I thought they were going to kill me. They were beating me that bad."

Interestingly, Wynn's alleged attack comes on the heels of news that the number of overall hate crimes reported in California dropped about 12 percent in 2012, with an overall decline of about one-third over the past decade, according to the Associated Press.

Still, a California teen who identifies as agender was hospitalized last month after having reportedly been set on fire by a fellow teen while traveling on a city bus.