toronto brawl

Bizarre video of man punching random strangers at Toronto bus stop goes viral

It's easy to get frustrated when navigating the sidewalks in Toronto, in all of their narrow, sometimes dirty, often overcrowded glory.

Disagreements can quickly arise between members of the public who feel as though they must compete for space, whether during events, on transit vehicles, in parking lots, at grocery stores and inside fast food restaurants, among other settings — but physical violence is never the answer if you want to stay out of trouble.

You may not go to jail or even get hurt by throwing a punch in public , but you'd best believe that someone will whip out a phone and start recording the second that hands get thrown.

Such was the case for one bald Toronto man who has now been viewed more than 8.4 million times (and counting) on video, attempting to fight a whole bunch of random strangers at a TTC bus stop.

Twitter user Sabji Hunter (@SabjiHunter) posted a 35-second-long Snapchat clip earlier this week from a fight that took place in the Lawrence Avenue East and Markham Road area.

Hunter, who is based in New Jersey, tells blogTO that the clip was sent to him by a friend who does not wish to be named for privacy reasons. It was filmed on Sunday, Oct. 9.

"The old man was trying to take over the sidewalk and pushing everyone," said Hunter to blogTO on Thursday.

"At that point he got into a beef with the two men who he hit with his bag. He then pushed them over. Then, they got up and the video explains the rest. The lady who got hit was just walking by."

"Toronto brawls be different," wrote Hunter when sharing the clip on Twitter. Someone else posted the same clip, scraped from Snapchat, to Reddit's r/DocumentedFights sub with the caption "Toronto Is A Different Place."

"Ayyyy yooooo… I heard Canadians are nice. Well, this video somehow contradicts that but not… lmao," wrote one commenter on Reddit, pointing to the fact that only one person featured in the video was actually out of pocket.

"Very few times am I okay seeing someone getting kicked in the head while they are already down," wrote another. "This is one of the times I'm completely okay with it."

On Twitter, nearly 2,000 people have commented on the clip — more if you count any of the 5,400 quote tweets. With more than 145,000 likes and 20,000 regular RTs, Hunter's tweet is a hit, inspiring more than a few jokes and parodies.

If you're unable to view the clip, here's the context: At the beginning, several people appear to be in a physical scuffle. Two men can be seen striking a bald man — the same man who is alleged to have been pushing people earlier.

A brave bystander (much taller and fitter-looking than the bald man) throws himself between all parties, effectively stopping the fight... until the bald man strikes him over the head.

Shocked, the very tall bystander backs away as people laugh with disbelief.

As the tall man and others walk away, a lone woman stands in the middle of the sidewalk. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the bald man hauls off and smokes her in the face with his fist.

After the woman is struck, several bystanders head back toward the bald man. He is eventually pushed to the ground and then, unfortunately, kicked in the face by one of the men he could be seen sparring with at the beginning of the video.

The Toronto Police Service has yet to respond to a request for comment regarding whether emergency services were called or if any charges were laid.

People who live in Toronto are taking it upon themselves either way to let others online know that this isn't an accurate portrait of Canada's largest city.

"I'm Torontonian, born and raised (on the playground is where I spend most of my days) And I can't explain this," wrote one Twitter user. "Some people just want to fight everyone. Whether it be anger, whatever. We mainly keep to ourselves, but some people..."

Lead photo by

Sabji Hunter


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