PHILADELPHIA — A man has died one week after he was allegedly hit outside of a Philadelphia nightclub.
Police said that on April 16, shortly before 1 a.m., a bouncer at Tabu Lounge & Sports Bar brought a drunk man outside and punched him in the face, WCAU reported. Police have not said what may have led up to the punch.
Surveillance video obtained by WTXF shows the punch, which knocked 41-year-old Eric Pope to the ground. The video shows bouncers moving Pope’s body off of the curb where he fell one minute later. Pope died one week later at the hospital.
“I just can’t fathom anyone hurting him because he’s so good, so helpful and so honest. It’s just difficult,” Bunny Conceiceo, Pope’s aunt, told WPVI. “He cared about people, helped people. He was a school committee member for many years, and anybody that needed anything he was there to help them.”
No charges have been filed. Philadelphia Police confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer that the department’s homicide division is investigating the incident.
“Violence is unacceptable,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told WCAU. “It is stunning to think of someone whose job it is to try and prevent unsafe situations causing severe injuries or in this case even causing death.”
Tabu told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the bouncer, who has not been identified, was not their employee, but instead was hired by an outside security company.
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