Kicking bouncer 'simply lost balance'

The sacked bouncer photographed kicking a man as he lay cowering on the ground says he wasn't being violent but "just falling over".

Damning photos showing Melbourne's Bar20 security guard Eddie Attal in the apparent attack drew nationwide criticism after they were published on the front page of the Herald Sun yesterday.

Mr Attal said he was embarrassed by the snaps.

"It looks like I'm kicking him [but] I'm trying to regain my balance," he was quoted in the Herald Sun as saying.

"It looks bad. It's a shot that captures the whole thug issue. There's not much I can say."

The father-of-three claimed he and another guard were the victims of racial taunts by three drunken men who were leaving Bar20 on Sunday night.

The men spat on him and asked "how does a wog work on the front door of Bar 20?", he claimed.

Mr Attal said the violence erupted when he tried to defend another person being attacked by a group of people.

A friend of the victim said he had been to get CAT scans and that his hair had been ripped out "like it was done with a drill".

Police Assistant Commissioner Kieran Walshe said the images were "very disturbing".

"That's not behaviour we would expect from crowd controllers," he told reporters in Melbourne yesterday.

"Crowd controllers are licensed to provide security and safety around venues, not to get involved with physical altercations with patrons."

Mr Walshe said it would be up to the Melbourne Criminal Investigation Unit whether to lay charges against the bouncer.

3 Jun 2008

So the understanding is that the bouncer was falling over with his heel on the head of the victim 20x ??? !!! ??? If the bouncer has that much trouble balancing maybe he should be in a wheelchair.??

This was a revenge attack for calling the bouncer a 'wog'. The law system will support the bouncer, and the victim will not have the level of compensation that he deserves

The law states that an equal force must be used to subdue any perpetrators. This is clearly not the case, as evident by the injuries of the victim.