Army Vet beaten and robbed by teens who asked him if ‘black lives matter’ as he ate in McDonald’s

An Iraq war veteran whose bravery inspired two statues says he was beaten by a group of teens in Washington, DC on Friday night after they approached and asked him whether ‘black lives matter’.

‘I felt threatened and thought they were trying to intimidate me, so I figured I’m just going to keep to my food, eat my food and hopefully they’ll leave me alone,’ Marquez told the station.

But he says the youths started calling him a racist, and that when he left they jumped him, beat him up, and robbed him.

‘As soon as I walked out of the McDonald’s I got hit in the back of the head, or the side of the head,’ he told WJLA. ‘I just dropped to the ground, and [the McDonald’s manager] says I looked unconscious.’

Marquez was taken to George Washington Hospital with bruises and cuts to his face, and says that he’s had trouble sleeping since the event, due to a sharp pain that he often feels in his head.

He also says that the youths took his credit cards and immediately used them in a number of locations, leaving a trail that he hopes will help police catch them.

Marquez served eight years on active duty in the marines as a rifleman and scout sniper from 2003-2011, and was awarded a Bronze Star for valor after carrying his commander’s body out of combat, according to The Daily Caller.

But he was best known for a photograph showing him and a fellow marine carrying a wounded sergeant out of a house in Fallujah, after a firefight that became known as ‘Hell House.’

That photograph in turn inspired two statues named No Man Left Behind, which are currently on display at Camp Pendleton in San Diego and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Police told The NY Daily News today that they were reviewing the McDonald’s location’s surveillance footage, but had yet to make any arrests.