Another beloved Phoenix athlete praised Paul Bissonnette, who came to the aid of a staff member at a Scottsdale restaurant on Sunday night.
Mr. Bissonnette, 39, was assaulted by six men after he intervened to protect the manager and restaurant staff at Houston's, where the group began causing trouble.
In his retelling of events, Bissonnette said the scuffle started in the restaurant and ended in the parking lot.
Reacting to Bissonnette's video about what happened with the X, former Cardinals and Texans defensive end JJ Watt praised the action.
“French dip alone is worth fighting for.” Watt wrote. “Thank you for protecting people, Biz. Barely scratched by 7 goons. Legend.”
The incident began when one of the group of “drunken golfers” got in the director's face, which Bissonnette said prompted his intervention.
“You could see he was a little shocked, surprised, stunned,” Bissonnette said in a video posted on social media. “It's a family restaurant. I don't think there was anyone who could have gone to help him. I went over there and grabbed the arm of the guy who was on top of him and said, 'Sir, if you're a member of staff, If we continue to harass and assault people, we will have problems.”
“And they just started chucking, so it escalated very quickly.”
Scottsdale police identified the assailants as Henry Mesker, John Carroll, William Carroll, Danny Bradley, Edward Jennings, and Sean Daly.
The men were jailed on suspicion of assault, and some were jailed on charges of disorderly conduct.
Dailey faces a felony charge, while the others face misdemeanor charges.
Bissonnette played for the Coyotes during his NHL career.
Watt played most of his career with the Texans, but spent his final two NFL seasons with the Cardinals.
