Man says attackers called themselves the 'Modern Day KKK'

ATLANTA — Police are looking for two men who attacked a motivational speaker, threw him from his wheelchair and kicked him while screaming racial and sexual profanities.

It happened Friday night near the intersection of Piedmont and 20th Street.

Christopher Coleman, who has cerebral palsy, told Channel 2’s Tom Regan he was in his wheelchair riding home from a dinner out when the two men attacked him.

“I heard two guys running up from behind me,” Coleman said.

He said he first thought it was some kind of joke, but then the  two men grabbed his wheelchair and steered it backward into a dark alley.

“They managed to grab me and pull me out of the wheelchair and began to kick me a couple of times, call me some really bad names,” he said.

After the men ran off, Coleman climbed back into his wheelchair and got help at a nearby restaurant.

Coleman told police he didn’t get a good look at the men, but may have recognized their voices.

He says his attackers left behind a note laced with racial and anti-gay slurs and profanity. In it, they called themselves the “Modern Day KKK.”

Coleman says he’s trying to understand why someone would be so full of hate.

"What happened in their lives that would make them want to do something like that?” he said.

Coleman is a college graduate, author and motivational speaker. He’s also a gay Christian, who preaches a message of tolerance, inclusion and overcoming adversity.

He said those who attacked him could probably benefit from his message.

“I don’t live my life confined to my wheelchair. I don’t think people have to live their lives confined to theirs,” he said.

Regan reached out to Atlanta police, who say they are working the case and trying to get more information about the attack.

Coleman's assistant said Coleman is getting an outpouring of support.

“Everyone reached out with love and compassion,” Tony Smith said.

Smith says the attack is unconscionable.

“First of all, how could you do it to somebody in a wheelchair, and how could you do it to him? He's such a great person,” Smith said.

Cox Media Group