Incredible footage has captured the moment a bystander tackles to the ground a man who allegedly assaulted customers and staff at a Brisbane Woolworths.
The footage given to The Courier-Mail shows Kevin of Nudgee Beach single-handedly tackling and restraining a 25-year-old man who had allegedly assaulted people at the Woolworths in Banyo on Wednesday morning.
The 42-year-old said he was just going to Woolworths to do his weekly shop and he never thought he would have to restrain someone.
“I had just arrived and was literally, in aisle one and didn’t have anything in the trolley and I just heard like screaming from a couple females. And it didn’t sound good,” he said.
“I stuck my head out and what I originally saw was the guy that I tackled and some other guy fighting in the self checkout area”
“It happened really quickly. It was probably all over with easily just under a minute.”
He said he saw the elderly man get attacked and he felt like he needed to step in.
“My thought’s were just to stop him from being able to hurt anyone else, especially after I saw the old man, he was out before he hit the ground,” he said.
“When I saw that, I was just like, this guy’s got to go down. I had enough and just took my opportunity to go at him and get him on the ground.”
Of his tackle, Kevin said “I just took the experience of watching Kotoni Staggs from the Broncos”.
The hero ‘nerd’ who came forward on Wednesday can be seen rushing to the scene as other bystanders restrain the man – however the footage cuts out as he goes to help.
A woman and a man were taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital with head injuries.
Police arrested 25-year-old Banyo man Jude Fincher and charged him with acts intended to cause grievous Bodily harm, two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm and serious assault of a person over 60.
He did not appear at a brief mention of the matter at Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Legal Aid duty lawyer Rachael Jackson said she had taken a Legal Aid application from him, and that he would not be applying for bail at this stage.
The matter was adjourned for mention on September 14.
Harry Nguyen, manager of Gold Class Nails, who had previously been described as the hero nerd, said he was one of four people allegedly assaulted by the man, alongside an older man, a woman and a young employee.
He said an older man was unprovoked and punched to the ground.
“I saw him fall over. Everyone’s gone around giving a hand. I thought, ‘I’m going to just try to chase this (other) guy and just get him to the ground’,” he said.
Mr Nguyen was one of five people who held the man to the ground before police arrived.
“My whole entire life, I never got into this (adrenaline) mode. I’m usually a nerd and a geek. I don’t do this sort of stuff.,” he said.
“But I just thought, ‘hey, this guy’s just so crazy that they needed as much help as possible’.”
Mr Nguyen said he usually avoids confrontations.
“I initially heard ladies screaming. I looked and saw a madman just throwing punches at people,” Mr Nguyen said.
“I usually don’t like to confront people. I don’t have any martial arts background.
“But this guy was so crazy that I thought ‘man, I don’t want to be the person who just stands there’.”
Mr Nguyen, who was allegedly assaulted by the man, had a bandaged head on Wednesday from a medical procedure the day before.
“I’ve worn this for 24 hours. Doctors and nurses were having a laugh and they said, ‘you can tell your family and friends that you got into a fight to make it more interesting’.”
“Well, that manifested.”
A Woolworths spokesman said counselling and support had been offered to staff.
“There’s no place for violence like this anywhere in our community and every retail worker deserves the right to a safe workplace,” he said.
“We’re providing every support to the team member and their loved ones at this time.
“We’re also offering counselling to all other team members.
“We’d like to thank the quick-thinking actions of our store team and other customers, as well as the timely response of emergency services.
“We’ll continue assisting the police as required.”