Door staff step in after man stabbed

[Dave]

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/

Door staff step in after man stabbed

TWO nightclub doormen sprang to the aid of a man after he was stabbed with a hypodermic needle in a late-night street attack.

Ammar Farooq Sheikh and Stuart Wood were working outside Zenn, Hanley, when they saw a disturbance involving a group of people.

The pair saw a 21-year-old man fall to the ground further along Foundry Street after he was stabbed in the stomach.

A friend of the victim, who is from Stoke-on-Trent, asked the doormen for help and they ran to his rescue.

And while Ammar performed basic first aid, Stuart chased one of the suspects and made a citizen's arrest.

The drama began at 2.30am on Tuesday.

None of those involved in the disturbance had been at Zenn.

But they were just yards from the club's front entrance when the trouble broke out.

Ammar, who lives in Tunstall, said: "My first priority was to see if the guy on the ground was okay.

"I put him in the recovery position and made sure he was breathing and checked his pulse.

"He was bleeding. I put a finger on his hand and asked him to press hard, but he was not responding. That made me even more worried. I rang for an ambulance."

Ammar, who has been a doorman for eight years and works for K and L Platinum Security, said the incident had been shocking.

And, by chance, it was the second time the 24-year-old had come to someone's aid in an emergency.

He said: "A few months ago, a chap was threatening to jump off a bridge on the A500 at Longport and I managed to talk him down.

"I had been driving home when I saw him on the other side of the bridge and stopped my car."

Stuart, from Birches Head, said it had just been instinct to go and help after the incident in the early hours of Tuesday.

The 26-year-old said: "As we got close, two men ran off. The lad on the floor had got some kind of puncture wound. Ammar stayed with him to make sure he was okay and I chased one of the others."

Stuart apprehended one suspect near the Potteries Shopping Centre and led him back to Foundry Street to hand him over to the police.

But once officers had established the apprehended man was not involved in the stabbing it was decided that no further action would be taken.

Police have arrested another man, aged 22, on suspicion of assault.

He has now been released on bail pending further inquiries.

A police spokesman said the injured man had suffered a relatively minor injury from a syringe, which is thought to have had a clean needle.

He was taken to hospital, but later released.

Stuart said: "People think doormen are thugs, but we are there to protect people having a night out. We were just concerned about the poor chap who had been injured."

Mohammed Khan, owner of Zenn, described the doormen's actions as "fantastic". Anyone with information about the incident should call Staffordshire Police on 0300 123 44 55.

[ballantyne78]

It's a shame that more stories like this don't make the press. It's another good example of the selfless acts that a lot of us perform, week in, week out. I hope this persuades a few people that we're not all mindless thugs. Outstanding work from the two lads involved.