Dozens of youths kick, punch and stamp on man with special needs in savage street attack

Dozens of youths viciously attacked a man with special needs as he lay defenceless in the street, in an attack witnesses feared could have proved fatal.

The disturbing footage appears to show a teenager initially shoving the victim, who falls backwards.

But as the man lays curled up in a fetal position, the crowd of around 30 rushes forward, kicking, punching and stamping on his head and body.

The teenagers only stopped when an off-duty policeman stepped in, prompting the youths to run off from the scene in Plymouth city centre.

The officer, who did not want to be named, was shocked by what he saw, and said the man, in his 30s, was lucky to not have been killed.

He said the victim was left with a broken nose and was treated by paramedics shortly after.

He told the Plymouth Herald : "I was with a colleague and we were walking through town.

"We saw the man sat in a doorway talking to one of the homeless guys. They weren't doing any harm. They were just chatting."

He said a group of between 25 and 30 teenagers, aged between about 13 and 17, approached the victim and began shouting.

He added: "They started heading towards him.

"We could hear lots of shouting.

"The man has special needs and I could hear him saying 'leave me alone. I just want to go home'.

"In the video it looks like he was starting on the group, but that's not how it was at all.

"He just wanted to go home."

The police officer and his colleague ran to stop the youths.

He added: "They were stamping on his head.

"They broke his nose.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "This footage has now been passed on to the local neighbourhood team and will form part of this investigation.

"We were called with reports of a group of youths having assaulted a man in an apparent unprovoked attack at around 8:30pm on Armada way, Plymouth.

"Two off-duty officers helped at the scene and a paramedic took care of the victim, a man in his 30s who suffered cuts and bruises.