In the news business, we call that a headline that's hard to ignore.
Back in 2012, Boyd Corbin was involved in a Halloween brawl. Two things separated the scuffle from the likely thousands of other bar fights that happened that night: One, Corbin was wearing a cheeky KKK costume, his opponent in the brawl was a drag queen, and a tiki torch was involved; two, more than two years later, Corbin is still facing serious criminal charges for the incident. Corbin has steadfastly maintained it was a fair fight, not a vicious assault. Now, with a trial scheduled for December, a new witness has entered the picture.
Wilton Manors Police say Corbin violently brandished a tiki torch at a Dame Edna Everage impersonator named Michael Walters at the annual costume party at Georgie's Alibi. Corbin, however, has always maintained that Walters was the aggressor in the scuffle and that he shouldn't be facing felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for his part. Corbin also has a witness who backs up his version of events.
The latest witness appears to also back up those claims. Police records show that in October 2014, investigators took a statement from a previously unidentified witness. Alvin Cyr, a 44-year-old funeral home employee, witnessed some of the altercation. From the interview:
Question: What did you exactly see during this incident?Answer: I saw the gentleman in the KKK outfit waving a tiki torch that was on fire, um, in a, it was pretty much in a hostile manner, he was waving it around like that.
Question: Uh. Did it look like he was trying to physically assault or physically batter the Dame Edna impersonator that was onstage?Answer: No, it looked like intimidation, maybe, or...
Question: OK, and was he waving it at anybody else to your knowledge?
Answer: Um, he was just waving it in general, but in, in an aggressive manner.
Cyr also told investigators that he saw the Dame Edna impersonator yelling at Corbin but that he didn't catch a further altercation.
Corbin doesn't seem fazed by the recent development. In an email with New Times this week, he says he's still planning to fight the charges.
"My trial is set for December 8 and should last a couple of days," Corbin wrote. "They again offered me a misdemeanor battery plea bargain but of course I declined since I was the one who was attacked and am still being attacked through the legal system by the 'victim' and the police."
Since his arrest, Corbin has been critical of the Wilton Manors PD's choice to investigate him. It even inspired him to run for Wilton Manors mayor. The bid failed, but Corbin's website -- mayorboyd.com -- has become a clearinghouse of info on his case (including the Cyr statement).
"My website is still getting about 50 visits per day," he said. "Half of those are first-time visitors.
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