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Man beaten after trying to help woman in Salt Lake City bar

Posted at 9:46 PM, Jan 15, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-15 23:47:05-05

SALT LAKE CITY - A good Samaritan needed six hours of surgery to wire his mouth shut after allegedly getting punched in the face at Jackalope Lounge, a downtown Salt Lake City bar.

“These two males walked past us with this female,” said Victoria Rock, the victim’s girlfriend. She was at the bar to celebrate her boyfriend, Todd Snyder’s birthday. “They had her by the arms, and they took her into the men’s bathroom.”

“She tried coming back out,” said Snyder, who says he thought she looked intoxicated. “They pushed her back in and another two guys went in there. That’s when I started banging on the door. They said mind your own business. I said, ‘no, she needs to come out. That’s not okay.’”

Snyder said he doesn’t remember what happened next, only that he ‘came to’ while he was stumbling around in the back alley with a broken jaw and a swollen eye.

“Every time he talks his jaw is cracking,” said Snyder’s friend, Bryson. “You could tell it was broken.”

Rock says instead of helping, employees at the Jackalope forced her boyfriend out the backdoor into the alley after the punch.

“He was screaming my jaw is broken,” Rock added.

The Lounge’s owner didn’t want to comment on camera until Police provided her with more information, but denied her workers forced the victim out. However, she decided against sharing video and pictures from surveillance cameras outside in the back alley and inside, which she confirms caught the punch on camera. She said she wants to help provide as many answers as possible, but wants to wait until a police detective comes back from the MLK holiday before providing any footage.

In the meantime, Snyder says his surgery cost him thousands of dollars and his injuries will keep him out of work for the next 4 to 6 weeks. His donation page can be found here.