Former NHL player Paul Bissonnette said he was hospitalized Sunday after struggling with multiple assailants to protect an Arizona restaurant owner during an altercation at a bar.
The former Arizona Coyotes player said the incident occurred at Houston's, a bar he frequents three to four times a week. Bissonnette claimed a group of drunken golfers started a disturbance that escalated to one person assaulting the bar manager. The former hockey player intervened and admitted that he received severe bruises during the scuffle and was hospitalized.
“There was a small disturbance going on at the bar,” Bissonnette said on her Instagram Story. share From TMZ. “It was a group of drunk golfers. Things obviously continued to escalate. They asked one guy to quit, but one guy kept getting in the manager's face.”
The 39-year-old former hockey player said the man had a physical relationship with the restaurant manager for “30 to 45 seconds” and that he was “shocked, surprised and stunned”. Bissonnette said he intervened.
“I just went over there and grabbed the guy on top of me by the arm. I said if you continue to harass and assault staff, there's going to be a problem,” he said.
The situation “escalated very quickly,” Bissonnette said. He said he noticed a struggle with what he believed to be seven men as he moved from inside the restaurant to the parking lot.
“I got knocked down a few times,” he admitted. “I got bootfucked to the head three times. Luckily I didn't get knocked out. I went to the hospital, so everyone's probably reading about it.”
“They're just bad guys,” Bissonnette said in the video. “I'm so drunk I don't know what else they had in there. But yeah, I'm very, very angry at them and I want to put their names out there. ”
GLENDALE, AZ – SEPTEMBER 26: Paul Bissonnette of the Los Angeles Kings in action during a preseason NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on September 26, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. #twenty five. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
“I want them to pay the piper,” Bissonnette said. “This is unacceptable behavior in a family restaurant.”
“I took a little and gave more,” he said, thanking police, paramedics and hospital staff for their help.
A man named Sean Daly was arrested Monday at 12:15 p.m. and faces three charges, including two felonies and one misdemeanor, Maricopa County Jail officials tell TMZ. . He was released a few hours later, the newspaper said. (Related: Video shows famous rapper caught in chaotic street brawl)
Police also told the outlet that six men were arrested on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident.
