Doorman stabbed seven times while working club - Canada

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http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/808764

Kyle Edward thought it was a typical night with a typical troublemaker to remove from the bar.

The 22-year-old bouncer working at Elixir Nightclub on Hess Street was trying to remove a man from what police have called a domestic dispute with a woman when the man began attacking Edward around 3 a.m. Sunday.

"When I realized what was actually occurring I knew I couldn't let him go," Edward said.

He was stabbed seven times -- in his eyebrow, above his eyebrow, on his chin, chest, lip and twice in his cheek. His lip alone has 20 stitches inside and out. If he hadn't been wearing glasses he would have lost his eye.

The puncture wound entered his chest cavity but did not hit any bones or organs. If he hadn't been wearing a stab-proof vest his mom bought him, wounds could have been much worse.

He didn't realize he had been stabbed in the chest until he was in the ambulance.

Sitting in his living room, stitched up from brow to chin, swollen, sore and tired, Edward recalls how determined he was not to let his attacker go.

"I saw the police and I thought, if I let this guy go like I usually do ... he was going to get away with something that he was doing to me," he said.

Unable to see from his left eye, unable to talk from a slashed and hanging lip, Edward carried the man into the centre of the road where Hamilton police officers at a bar across the street noticed him and rushed over.

Edward, his mom, sisters, friends and a large group of co-workers from Big Gill Security Inc. sat in court yesterday morning to face the man accused of attacking him.

A Hamilton man is charged with aggravated assault in the incident.

"It shows the accused exactly what he's done, even if it's just for two seconds, you'll be inside the courtroom and show him the impact he caused," said Edward.

His family received a call from police yesterday saying the suspect was also charged with a second count of aggravated assault for stabbing a patron at the bar in his cheek.

Edward says the accused's mother, who was in the courtroom, apologized repeatedly to him and his mom, Kim Edward -- a prominent defence attorney.

Edward and his mom say they are particularly grateful to one police officer, who happened to be a former paramedic, who kept Edward from going into shock and passing out while waiting for an ambulance. One of his friends and a fellow bouncer also stayed with him, told the paramedics details and called his family.

The response from friends has also been overwhelming, he said, citing one friend who was at the Air Force base in Trenton. When he got the call from Edward's sister he took an emergency leave, drove about 250 kilometres to Hamilton, stayed an hour and went back to report for duty on time the next morning.

Edward had been working for Big Gill Security Inc. for almost three years. He said he never felt scared to go to work.

But this isn't the first time he's been attacked. Two years ago a group of guys rushed him and another bouncer in a small Hamilton bar. He was struck in the head with a flashlight, requiring nine staples.

People thought he would quit.

"I just wanted to show that just because somebody hits me on the head I'm not going to stop working," he said.

But now he's retired.

Edward plans to go to McMaster University in the fall for a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Then he hopes to obtain a Master's Degree in international relations.

"I want to get a nice desk job and wear a nice suit and not have to be concerned about people with knives," he said.

Errol Webster, 22, of Hamilton, is charged with aggravated assault. He remains in custody. His next court date is July 29.