A video that went viral appears to show a bouncer stomp on the head of a man as he’s lying on the sidewalk outside a Manchester, New Hampshire, bar early on New Year’s Day, and now he and another bouncer are facing assault charges.

Initially, after officers arrived that night, they arrested a different man for disorderly conduct, subsequently drawing scrutiny from the public on social media.

Now, Trevor Dyer, 23, of Raymond, New Hampshire, is being charged with second-degree felony assault, according to Manchester police, in connection with allegedly kicking the man in the head outside of McGarvey’s. The other bouncer, 32-year-old Dustin Bourque, also of Raymond, is being charged with two counts of misdemeanor simple assault. Bourque allegedly pushed the victim, and allegedly assaulted another man.


A video of the incident shows chaos on the sidewalk, involving multiple people wearing “Staff” T-shirts. The victim was reportedly treated at the scene for nonlife-threatening injuries, according to police.

After officers arrived, they arrested Brandon Pichette, 31, of Manchester, for disorderly conduct. He allegedly had a bouncer in a headlock, police said.

Just the arrest of Pichette — not the bouncers, too — drew the scrutiny of the public. The police department’s post about the initial arrest drew over 400 comments, many of them calling for the bouncers to be arrested, citing the video.

“MPD, please do the right thing here,” one commenter, identified as Heather Cullen, said.

“This is an embarrassment to the city of Manchester. Both the bar and the police,” another comment, made by a user identified as Joel Mercier, said.

The social media crowd also took to posting about the incident in comments to reviews of the bar.

The reactions sparked a response on social media from police. In a Jan. 3 post, the department thanked those who provided information, and also noted that the officer who responded and arrested Pichette did so based on what was observed at the time.

“We understand the incident has caused a great deal of concern and emotion within the community,” part of the post said. “The public’s outcry for justice has not been ignored by the Manchester Police Department. Please understand that we are investigating the ‘entire’ incident, not just the 4 minutes of video that has been circulating on the internet. This investigation will take into account what happened prior to the recording as well as after.”


Boston.com was unable to reach the owner of McGarvey’s for comment by phone on Monday. However, in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader, owner Bob Scribner said the incident is “serious” and that he’s fired one person. Scribner told the newspaper that the incident began when the victim was asked to leave because he appeared to be falling asleep. The victim then allegedly put a bouncer in a chokehold.

It was the victim being kicked in the head that spurred commotion outside the bar, leading to Pichette’s arrest, Scribner told the newspaper.

When asked if Pichette will continue to face the disorderly conduct charge, Manchester police’s public information officer, Heather Hamel, said via email that it’s up to the city solicitor to drop charges, not the police.