By Man involved in viral Wetherspoons brawl speaks out for then first time.
Jordan from Scunthorpe spoke exclusively to Gi Media about his experience on the night the incident happened.
“Basically, what happened is – my brother passed away a year to the day. My family were all together having drinks for my brother. We arrived there at 10 in the morning, had breakfast and started drinking. By the time it all kicked off, yes we were drunk, but we knew what was going on.
“The manager came across with an attitude and said you all need to lower your voice or you’ll have to leave. I can’t remember what I said – I said a sarcastic remark or something like – alright d***head, leave us alone, and we’ll shut up. Then he said, alright, finish your drinks, I want you to go.
“It’s my fault, I walked up to him and grabbed his arm and said come for a chat and snapped his arm away from me and I punched him. Well, I tried to punch him, missed a few times and I went to headbutt him and hit him with my tooth which cut the top of his head.
Warning: distressing video
“Police then came. As you can see on the videos – and just walked up and grabbed hold of my arm. I’ve like stood up and braced up and he’s grabbed me round the head and I grabbed him round the head. As we’ve both gone to the floor I tried to push his face away from mine to get him off me.
“That’s when I started getting pepper sprayed in the face like.. One tried to have me in a headlock.. pepper sprayed me straight into the eyeballs, the other was punching me in the side. That’s when my brother and sister tried to grab the other officer off me who was punching me. It’s just all on video from then – it all happened so quick – I didn’t see much then because I’d been pepper sprayed in the eye.
“At no point in the night have they said I have the right to remain silent, I was never asked to leave the pub quietly, they never asked me what had gone on.”
“The way they just barged in – they never told me it was the police – it’s the way they’ve come across and not correctly identified themselves. No procedures or nothing. It’s made us all worry that you don’t know what to expect from the police.
“There were six of us arrested. They arrested myself and five others. We’ve all been placed on bail until the 17th of this month while they do all their investigations. My dad is pressing charges on the officer for assault.
“Just waiting to see what charges they press as I’m down for GBH and an assault on a police officer. I said to my solicitor I’ll hold my hands up and say common assault on the manager fair enough, he was been cheeky but that doesn’t give me the right to punch him I understand that completely. It’s mainly my dad – the way he was pistoled with that taser was appalling – he was knocked out by the police – he wasn’t even there when it all kicked off before.
“When my dad rung up Humberside Police to press charges the officer said Humberside Police are under review with how they handled the situation and any assault allegations will be brought up on the 17th in court and take it from there, they said.”
Scunthorpe Wetherspoons
Police released a statement which says: “At 5.20pm on Friday 28 May, police were called to reports of a disturbance at a pub on Oswold Road in Scunthorpe.
“On arrival at the scene, four police officers and a member of staff were reportedly assaulted by a group of men. Two of the officers required hospital treatment for their injuries.
“A number of people have been questioned in relation to the incident and have subsequently been released as we continue our enquiries.”
Chief Inspector Paul French said: “Now that restrictions are lifting and hospitality is reopening, we are doing all we can to support members of the public and local businesses as the night time economy restarts.
“Our first response will always be to engage with drinkers, however please be assured that we will swiftly and robustly deal with any cases of disorder – and we certainly will not tolerate abuse and violence directed at our officers or at hospitality staff.
“There are additional measures in place at the moment and venues are working hard to adapt. If you are going out, please be patient with staff and respectful of the rules in place at individual establishments. They are there to keep you and others safe.”
Enquiries are now underway in to Friday evening’s incident and police are working closely with the pub while reviewing online footage along with our officers’ body worn video cameras and nearby CCTV.
If anyone has information that would help with our enquiries they are asked to call the non-emergency number 101 quoting log 456 of 28 May 2021.
Gi Media contacted Humberside Police for further comment but they had nothing further to add.
A Wetherspoons spokesman said: “We completely condemn the actions of a group of customers at The Blue Bell, Scunthorpe.
“The pub’s manager rightly told them they would not be served because they were not following social distancing.
“As a result the manager was attacked by a member of the group and needed hospital treatment.
“The police came to the pub to deal with the situation and were attacked by the group members.
“Our staff work hard to ensure that the pub is a fun and safe place for customers to socialise and for staff to work in and do not deserve to be treated in this way.
“We are grateful for the actions of the police. We will assist the police in any way possible with their enquiries.”
Contact Gi Scunthorpe News
Email us: scunthorpenews@gi-media.co.uk
Contact Gi Lifestyle
Email us: news@gi-media.co.uk
