Council worker investigated after street brawl video goes viral as bosses 'take matter seriously'
Knowsley Council has launched an investigation after one of its workers was seen in a viral social media video involving a street brawl between two men, and a woman. The LDRS understands the woman is a council worker and not part of the physical altercation, but is accused of initiating the conflict.
The video of the fight was shared to Facebook on January 27 and generated more than a thousand comments, was viewed by tens of thousands of people, and was shared 1,600 times, at the time of writing. The video is still available to view publicly on social media and appears to show a street brawl.
In the video seen by the LDRS, the action starts with a man and woman approaching another man waiting on the street. The first man heads straight towards the waiting man, and is holding what appears to be a small bat.
The two men are seen to engage in, what looks like, a heated verbal exchange, before quickly moving on to a physical altercation. After an initial struggle, the man seen waiting at the start of the video, appears to overpower the man holding the bat, and forces him onto a car bonnet.
In terms of the audio from the video, the first voice, which does not belong to either of the two men or woman seen in the video, is heard to say: [Referring to the man holding the bat] “Don’t come down here. No offensive weapons mate. Fight like a f*****g man. Get that. Get it off him.”
Soon after this, the same person is heard saying: “T*** him. T*** him now. F***ing look. Look what he’s got in his hand.”
The scuffle lasts between 12 to 14 seconds, with the two men seen to separate. The LDRS understands the video depicts an incident from last year, which was not reported to police, involving two members of the public and a Knowsley Council worker. The council worker was not involved in the physical interaction.
Due to the views generated by the video, and the mention of a council worker being involved, the LDRS further understands that the post came to the attention of the local authority.
The LDRS contacted Knowsley Council on January 28 for confirmation on whether a council worker was involved in the video. A Knowsley Council spokesperson told us: “We are aware of a video featuring a member of our staff that is being shared on social media.
“We take such issues very seriously and a process has commenced which will determine the most appropriate course of action in this case.”
Earlier this week, the LDRS followed up our enquiry with the council, to find out if there had been any updates from the internal process. A spokesperson confirmed it is still looking into the incident, adding: ““With regards to a video being shared on social media relating to a member of council staff, this matter is being taken seriously and it is subject to an ongoing investigation.”