Source: KUTV, Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY -- Two gay Utah men were beaten up last month following a 4th of July celebration. 

One of the men was badly beaten about the head because the attackers repeatedly slammed his head on the concrete.  The other had a TV set thrown on his head.

"He had blood rushing out of his ear, and he is losing hearing in that ear," said Roger Kraft, an attorney for one of the men.

That part of the story is the same no matter who is telling it, according to news reports, but the rest of the story behind the case varies dramatically depending on who tells it.

The neighbors who beat the two men were not charged, Salt Lake Tribune reports, but one of the men who was beaten up now stands accused of kidnapping two neighborhood children.

David James Bell and Dan Fair, who are gay partners, were assaulted by family and friends of two kids who ended up in the men's home after the July 4th celebration.

In one version, the Bell stole into his neighbor's house early July 4 and removed the sleeping children, who later were found crying in his bedroom.

That's the version ascribed to by prosecutors, who charged Bell with burglary and two counts of first-degree felony child kidnapping.

But Bell claims that the kids simply wandered over to his home, saying that they couldn't find their parents.

Members of Bell's family claim he took the children in when they could not sleep because of an all-night party at their own house, KUTV reports.

No one, however, disputes that following discovery of the children at Bell's home, in south Salt Lake City, several adults, including the children's father, broke in and severely beat Bell.

Kraft, who is Bell's attorney, said events at that point "escalated into a hate crime." Kraft said Bell's assailants assumed that "because a person's gay, he's also a pedophile."

The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday there was "insufficient evidence" to file felony counts. South Salt Lake prosecutors are now screening for possible misdemeanor charges.

The mother of one child, Lulu Latu, said Thursday that Bell's sexual preference was not a factor. She said the beating was sparked by anger and fear for the safety of the 2-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl, Salt Lake Tribune reports.

"Imagine walking into your house and not being able to find your kids, then you find them in someone else's bedroom," Latu said.

Bell's attorney said Latu had returned the children to their home by the time three to five adult neighbors kicked down Bell's door, broke his windows and assaulted Bell and his boyfriend.

Bell claimed the neighbors used the broken glass from his windows to cut his throat and his foot, according to Kraft. One toe was cut so deeply that Bell believes the intent was to sever it, Kraft said.

"I know it's not right," Latu said Thursday of the violence. "But what if I hadn't caught it in time? It could have been a child-murder case, instead."

Bell's uncle, Joe Taylor, said it doesn't make sense that Bell - who had been partying at the children's home from about 2 am to dawn - would turn kidnapper.

"It doesn't add up," Taylor said. "Kidnapping when you got a bunch of people in both houses? When you're right next door? What's that?"

Source: D.A. won't charge neighbors for attacking accused kidnapper | Salt Lake Tribune 
Accused Gay Kidnapper Beaten By Children's Friends | KUTV