Watch: ‘I Thought He Was Dead’: Bouncers Filmed Beating Up Two People On Paceville Street
Trigger warning: This article contains graphic footage
Police are investigating a case involving a group of bouncers who were filmed beating up two men on the streets of Paceville.
The video, which was taken on 13th July, shows six bouncers punching and kicking two men and dropping them to the ground on the main street of Paceville. While one of the men is on the ground, a bouncer can be seen aiming a kick to his head, knocking him out.
As the bouncers walk away, leaving the two men on the ground, three men can be seen kicking their heads and bodies as passers-by scream at them to stop.
One of the men managed to get up but the second one remained on the ground.
A member of the public who witnessed the fight told Lovin Malta that while she didn’t witness what started the fight, it cannot justify how brutally the bouncers hit the two men.
“I thought the guy who got a hard kick in the head was dead,” she admitted. “After the bouncers left them on the ground, I ran over and tried to place him in the recovery position so that he wouldn’t swallow his tongue or, if he puked, that he wouldn’t choke on it… that is if he wasn’t already dead.”
“I wasn’t able to get him in the proper position because he was heavy and his friend kept shaking him and trying to bring him back to consciousness, panicking that his friend was in the state he was in. However, luckily another guy saw what I was trying to do and helped me get him in the right position.”
The woman said she then ran up to the police officers stationed outside Burger King, screaming that a man was unconscious and that she didn’t know whether he was dead or alive.
“I could see the guys who I think the two men had originally fought with standing there and one of them was complaining about a cut to his arms. The police were so focused on him and I was screaming that I thought a guy was dead on the floor, but it felt like forever as they stood there and hesitated on who was more important.”
“But I kept on screaming at them and eventually got them with me. I stood there for a while, saw one of the officers call an ambulance and found out my friend had already called for one as I was running to the police. When I knew that an ambulance was on its way and that the unconscious guy was in the right position, I left.”
She said she was so shaken up from the incident that it took her around five minutes to notice her arms were covered with blood, probably from the unconscious man as she had tried to turn him onto his side.
“I didn’t even notice he was bleeding, but it must have been bad considering the amount of blood I had on me,” she said.
A police spokesperson confirmed with Lovin Malta that they are investigating the incident but were unable to confirm whether any arrests have been made.
Following another fight in the same street last month, St Julian’s mayor Albert Buttigieg wrote to police commissioner Angelo Gafa to demand more security in Paceville.
“While I appreciate the police’s work and understand the challenges there, I believe the police are being reactive and not proactive enough,” the mayor stated.
Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo responded to his concerns by stating that the number of police officers deployed to Paceville has already increased and that a dedicated squad is being set up for the area.
Have you ever experienced incidents like this while out in Malta?
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