Photo via Facebook

Update: Police have determined that the injuries were the result of an accident, not an attack.

Original: A bartender was injured so severely in Dupont Circle earlier this month that his neck was broken. Friends have launched a crowdfunding campaign, which has surpassed $15,000, to support his recovery.

Joey is a long-time employee of the popular gay bar JR’s on 17th Street NW. When he was walking home on July 15 he was hit with an object from behind and knocked unconscious, about two blocks away at 16th and R streets, according to a report from the Metropolitan Police Department. A small amount of cash may have been taken. Police are still working to determine a motive and if there was a hate bias.

A passerby saw Joey lying on the ground and called 911. After three days in the hospital, he was released—only to return several days later, when he learned that two bones in his neck were broken, according to Fox5.

David Perruzza, the manager of JR’s Bar, set up the GoFundMe page. He writes on the fundraising page that Joey was hit “so hard that it broke his neck” and he had to get two bars placed in his neck during surgery.

Perruzza told Fox5 that he’s been covering his colleague’s shifts so that he doesn’t lose out on money as he’s “basically an all-tip employee.” About 235 donors have contributed to the fundraising page, already surpassing its $15,000 goal within just three days.

“He is just really in a lot of pain so he is kind of miserable right now,” Perruzza said. “It’s very sad because normally he is a fun, happy guy.”