Conflicting reports surround claims of Police brutality by a 20-year-old St. David's man who said he was beaten by several officer during the early hours of Sunday morning.

Sporting a badly bruised left eye, Darrin Burgess told The Royal Gazette that he was out with friends when they tried to enter the popular Club 40 night club after leaving the Number One shed after a melee had broken out.

"But the bouncer would not let us in," he said. "So people tried to rush the door."

Then, Mr. Burgess claimed, bouncers came running outside after they heard glass being shattered, one of which he said ran towards him with a switchblade.

"So I ran across the street and went into the trash can and got a bottle to keep him away from me," Mr. Burgess said. "Then I threw it at him."

He said when Police arrived on the scene, people started to disperse. He claimed he walked west along Front Street in order to make his way to the Hamilton Police station to turn himself in for throwing the bottle.

"I knew I was in the wrong," he said.

However, Mr. Burgess claimed before he reached there, Police attacked him from behind, throwing his jacket that he said he dropped during the disturbance over his head. Then, he claimed, several officers proceeded to kick and punch him about the body and face.

"They started kneeing me and it was like they were trying to suffocate me," he said.

Mr. Burgess, who admitted he was drinking that night, said he was then taken to the Police station and passed out.

He said when he woke up, he discovered he had been stripped naked and placed outside in the rain in the upper holding area of the station.

"When I asked why they took off my clothes, they said because they were wet.

"They (the officers) were laughing at me."

Mr. Burgess said he did not recall the exact moment he sustained his eye injury. He said he was subsequently conveyed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH), but resisted treatment because he does not have any insurance.

He was released by Police yesterday after being charged with wilful damage and throwing a missile, then granted bail.

"If I did something so wrong to deserve this black eye, how come I wasn't charged with violently resisting arrest? " he asked.

He said he intended to file a complaint with the Police Complaint Authority.

When contacted by this paper, while he acknowledged that Mr. Burgess was involved in a fracas outside the club, Club 40 general manager Shawn Lekki adamantly denied that any of his bouncers pulled out a knife on the man.

"Our policy is that they cannot carry weapons," he said. "That allegation is absolutely untrue."

Mr. Lekki said he did not believe the man was attacked by the officers as he (Burgess) was seen throwing bottle not only at the club's entrance door but at a Police vehicle as well.

And Mr. Lekki said he was positive that Mr. Burgess was the perpetrator.

One of our bouncers even went to the Police station to identify him."

And while he would not comment on the allegations of Police brutality, Police spokesman Robin Simmons confirmed that a man was arrested by several Police on Sunday morning.

"The man violently resisted arrest and attempted to bite one of the officers and kicked another in the chest.

"He was restrained and taken to Hamilton Police station where he refused medical treatment, but was later conveyed to KEMH for injuries received before Police arrival."

Mr. Simmons refused to divulge which charges were levied against the arrested man.