FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) — Two bouncers at a South Florida bar who were captured on cell phone video beating two men were charged with one count of aggravated battery amid growing demands for accountability for both employees' violent actions.
Protesters holding large white signs that read "Boycott!" in bold black letters took to the streets Sunday afternoon in front of Dirty Blondes Sports Bar at 229 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, the site of the July 28 altercation between security personnel and two male customers partly caught on camera in a 15-second video clip that quickly went viral and spawned an Internet campaign to boycott the local hot spot.
Charles King, who attended the protest, said similar incidents have happened before at Dirty Blondes. "I've seen people beaten unmercifully and then arrested by the police," he said.
Thirty-year-old Arnald Thomas-Darrah remained behind bars Sunday after police took him into custody Sunday at his Oakland Park residence. The second bouncer, 35-year-old Jovan Ralfhel Dean, faces misdemeanor battery that will be filed by David Parker with the State Attorney's Office, according to Fort Lauderdale Police.
The altercation started last Sunday, at around 7 p.m., when 29-year-old Alexander Coelho and 27-year-old David Parker were hanging out with friends at the bar. According to the victims' account, they sent a drink back, which led to an argument with the bartender and got the group kicked out of the premises.
Police said Parker had returned to the bar to challenge the bouncers to a fight. The video shows one of the security workers grabbing Parker. Coelho then turns to his right to look, and that's when a second bouncer leans over and punches him. The footage captures Coelho stumbling back to the ground. The same bouncer is then shown stomping his foot on Coelho's face.
King said Thomas-Darrah and Dean's aggressive behavior highlights what he perceives as Dirty Blondes' questionable hiring practices. "This place has a history of hiring untrained bouncers, untucked shirts with no sleeves," he said. "I don't know where they get these guys. Zero training, and they just beat people beyond recognition."
Coelho and Parker were arrested last week after police arrived on the scene. On Coehlo's arrest report, Officer Marc Decarlo wrote he saw Coelho and Parker bleeding and screaming at staffers. According to Decarlo, the irate customer refused his orders to stop yelling and kept making physical threats to bar employees. Coelho, Decarlo continued, then approached him and "pushed and shoved this officer in the chest." Coelho was charged with battery on a police officer and disorderly conduct.
The footage of the fight, however, prompted a boycott of the bar on Facebook in addition to Sunday's protest. King indicated he wants to see a change in the way Dirty Blondes treats its customers. "[The owner] needs to be made an example of," he said. "He needs to lose his liquor license until there's a full investigation, and those other two bouncers that didn't get arrested today should be arrested."
A representative for Dirty Blondes issued a statement initially posted on the bar's Facebook page which reads in part, "While we do not condone the actions displayed in the 15-second video circulating, no further statements on what led up to, during or after the incident ensued will be issued until we review the matter internally with all parties involved."
Bar management on site declined to comment about the protesters in front of their business.
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