Bouncer Arrested After Brutally Beating Patron in Ft. Lauderdale Bar Fight [VIDEO]
A sports bar in Ft. Lauderdale Beach is receiving quite a bit of heat from locals outraged over the actions of two of its bouncers. The bouncers are alleged to have physically assaulted two patrons of Dirty Blondes Sports Bar on Jul. 28.
One of the bouncers, Arnald Thomas-Darrah, 30, is now being charged with felony battery while the other, Jovan Ralfhel Dean, 35, is facing a misdemeanor battery charge. A cell phone video has quickly gone viral depicting their beatdown of two men who had been in the bar moments before.
In the video, bar patrons Alex Coehlo, 29, and David Parker, 27, can clearly be seen as they are assaulted by the two bouncers. Despite the damning nature of the cell phone video, the owner of the sports bar does not seem to think his employees did anything wrong.
"It looks like it was a bunch of troublemakers who came to the bar drunk causing trouble," said A.J. Yaari, owner of Dirty Blondes. "Now, they are just trying to make us look bad."
Initially, the police agreed with Yaari's assessment, and both Coehlo and Parker were arrested at the scene. They were battered, bloody, and uncooperative with the police at the time of their arrest.
Since the incident, however, there has been a large outcry of public support for Coehlo and Parker. A Facebook page titled "Boycott Dirty Blondes" has been formed, and has already received nearly 9,000 likes online. Users have taken to the page to use it as an outlet to publicly shame Dirty Blondes for its treatment of Coehlo and Parker.
"This is a video of my friend Stephanie and her boyfriend, Alex. They were at Blondies yesterday, got a drink they didn't like, asked for a new one (offering to pay for both) and then got verbally attacked by the bartender. When they asked the security guys at the door for the manager, this is what happened," wrote Coehlo's friend Mary Ann Crespo on the page.
Crespo included along with that message the infamous 15-second cell phone video of the altercation. Many others have also taken to protesting online against Dirty Blondes, as well as in person. On Sunday a group of protesters picketed outside the establishment to show their displeasure.
"I watched the video time and time again and I'm absolutely beside myself every time I see it," said a protester named Justin. "I'm here to today to support the cause of having a little bit more screening and control over our security -- people that are supposed to be securing us and not assaulting us when we are out on the town."
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