Philadelphia bouncer wanted on murder charge for punching a man outside bar

A Philadelphia bouncer faces a murder charge after allegedly landing a fatal punch on a man outside a bar earlier this month.

On April 16, security footage captured Eric Pope, 41, being drunkenly escorted out of the Tabu Lounge and Sports in Center City, where 24-year-old Kenneth Frye, who was working as a third-party bouncer, punched him, knocking him to the ground.

Pope was knocked unconscious and was rushed to Jefferson Hospital where he was placed in the intensive care unit before dying from his injuries eight days later, according to NBC 10.

Frye has turned himself in after a warrant was issued Wednesday and is facing a third-degree murder, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office confirmed to the Daily News Thursday.

“I don’t think punching anybody anytime is acceptable, unless you’re doing something in self-defense,” Mayor Jim Kenney said Wednesday afternoon. “And I don’t know the details, we don’t see everything that’s happening before the poor man was knocked out. But again, this is a case that’s still being investigated.”

At the time, Frye was working for an outside firm, Mainline Private Security, which has been has been sued at least a dozen times since 2020, over bouncers’ alleged use of force or failure to call for medical help in response to injuries, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Source: nydailynews