The shocking video from last Sunday showing a group of aggressive bouncers in a Fort Lauderdale bar viciously attacking two men, including one bouncer who kicked a man in the head, became even more shocking when it was revealed that police arrested the two victims and not the bouncers.
But after a week of social media outrage, Fort Lauderdale police announced today they have charged two of the four bouncers involved.
Last night, they arrested Arnald “Kris” Thomas-Darrah, the most aggressive of the bouncers, who punched a man named Adam Coelho several times, then kicked him while he was down before disappearing back into the bar. He was charged with felony battery.
And at this point, police plan to arrest Jovan Ralfhel Dean, the bouncer who initiated the melee when he snuck up behind the second man, David Parker, and placed him in a chokehold before throwing him down to the ground. He was charged with misdemeanor battery.
However, there is a third bouncer that needs to be charged, Steven Orton, who can be seen in the very last frame of the clip punching Parker, knocking him down.
The video was recorded on Instagram, which only allows 15-second clips, but it was enough to show what took place.
However, considering how shocking the rest of the video was, it is understandable how police missed the final incident, which is posted below in two still frames compiled by Boycott Dirty Blondes, the Facebook page that was launched after the incident and quickly began gathering information on the bouncers (since the media wasn’t doing it).
Of the three bouncers, Orton has the most extensive criminal history, spending four years in prison on burglary charges before he was released in 2011. And just last December, he was arrested for DUI in Sarasota.
A protest has been organized against Dirty Blondes today at 2 p.m. because its owner, Aiton Joseph Yaari, allowed the bouncers to continue working, writing the two victims off as “troublemakers.”
So considering he’s down two bouncers, we’ll be sure to run into Orton.
UPDATE: I drove up to Dirty Blonde’s at 2:30 p.m. and didn’t see a single protester, but I snapped this photo from my car before leaving. But as you can see in the second photo, posted on the Boycott Dirty Blondes Facebook page they showed up around 3:30 p.m.
