A Richmond chef dubbed a Good Samaritan for trying to stop the trashing and looting of The Bay during the Stanley Cup riot said he was "fuelled by adrenalin" when he jumped in to help another man who was doing the same thing.
Robert MacKay, now 39, is 6-foot-3 and weighed 250 pounds in June 2011, when he was swarmed, punched, brought to the ground, kicked and peppersprayed in the face during an assault that lasted less than a minute.
After the attack, he lay on the ground in the fetal position, and "I couldn't open my eyes because of the burning," he said.
MacKay told his story in court for the first time on Tuesday, testifying as a Crown witness at the trial of four of the men accused of assaulting him - Ioannis Kangles, Carlos Barahona Villeda, Michael MacDonald and David Leonati.
They face four charges each, including rioting, and unlike dozens of other rioters, have pleaded not guilty.
It's the second riot case that has made it to the trial stage.
MacKay told the court he was "slightly buzzed" after drinking six or seven sleeves of draft at the Astoria Hotel on East Hastings with his girlfriend (now fiancée) and a friend before and during the game.
"I was able to make decisions and to walk and talk," he said. "I couldn't drive a car."
They walked downtown after the game, hoping to recapture the friendly vibe they remembered from the 2010 Olympics, but "I wasn't expecting to see what I saw."
Black smoke he correctly guessed was coming from a burning car filled the air, and people were kicking over newspaper boxes and "things were getting destroyed."
He said he was shocked, disappointed and amazed all at once.
"I was shocked that people could react like that over a hockey loss," he said.
"People had lost their minds." Outside The Bay, he saw a man he didn't know in a white Canucks jersey trying to prevent people from trashing the store
windows, and "I just knew I had to help him. I just knew it was the right thing to do."
In a 45-second scene replayed on TV news countless times, he stood in between the mob and the windows, and yelled, "This is my f---ing city," until one rioter lunged at him with a pole.
MacKay grabbed the pole and tried to fend off the mob and was swarmed and assaulted, and then eventually helped to his feet by two men. MacKay is to return to the stand on Wednesday and faces cross examination by four defence lawyers.
Also Tuesday, Vancouver police Staff-Sgt.
Lee Patterson was questioned by defence lawyers about officers' efforts that night to "corral" rioters into certain areas of downtown and whether police allowed rioters adequate exit routes.
Crown prosecutors said they would present evidence showing that the four accused participated in the assault and the riot. Four other rioters last year pleaded guilty to taking part in the same assault, and rioting, and all were jailed: Nathan Blake, 24, sentenced to eight months; Robert Timleck, 25, seven months; and John Mahoney and Robert Dack to five months each.
Blake admitted pepper-spraying MacKay, and Timleck admitted to punching him in the face three times.
About a third of the rioters who have pleaded guilty have been jailed; the longest sentence has been 20 months. Total cost of damage from the five-hour riot sparked by the Vancouver Canucks' loss in the Stanley Cup final was $4 million.
