A dad who was trying to get inside a bar to speak to his DJ son punched one doorman and headbutted another after being refused entry.
Shaun Doyle lost his temper and lashed out at the bouncers as he attempted to get into The Lofts, near the Gate, in Newcastle city centre, before also assaulting two female police officers. A court heard that the constables had been trying to detain the 51-year-old using their PAVA spray but were unsuccessful and, instead, he grabbed and squeezed their wrists.
Prosecutors said that one of the officers pressed their emergency button and a large number of police who were in the vicinity descended on the area to assist. Doyle, who has nine offences on his record but had stayed out of trouble for 15 years, was finally detained and arrested.
Doyle, of Woodvale Drive, in Hebburn, has now been given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating and two of assaulting an emergency worker. He was also ordered to do 50 hours of unpaid work.
Recorder Tony Hawks told him: "The reality is you must have known that behaving in the way you did in a busy city centre the situation was like to escalate and so it did. You assaulted two doormen and then you ended up assaulting two police officers.
"Doormen and police have got enough on their plates dealing with disorder without having to put up with men like you."
Newcastle Crown Court heard that Doyle attended The Lofts bar, on Newgate Street, on December 18 2021 and was demanding to be let in to see his son, who was DJing. After being refused entry, an argument erupted between him and one of the doormen and Doyle punched him to the side of the face.
When a second bouncer intervened, Doyle headbutted him in the face, causing his nose to burst. Prosecutors said that two female officers saw what was happening and one tried to detain Doyle using their PAVA spray but only succeeded in incapacitating herself.
Doyle grabbed the wrist of that officer and then did the same to the second constable when she too tried to use her PAVA spray. He was not detained until numerous officers descended on the scene, the court heard.
John Wilkinson, defending, said Doyle had been in Northumberland when he'd received a call to say his son had been assaulted in Newcastle. Mr Wilkinson added: "His son had been slashed across the face and received 50 stitches prior to this and, it was fearing he might have been assaulted again, that caused him to go to the bar to find out.
"That's why he asked the doorman about his son. He accepts he lost his temper there."
