A father appeared to punch a passer-by at Polzeath Beach in Cornwall after the man reportedly warned him against taking his partner and children into the sea during Storm Austen. The incident, captured on video, happened on Friday afternoon while the beach was battered by the storm.
At the time, RNLI lifeguards had reportedly red-flagged the beach, signalling that people should not enter the water because of a high risk of drowning or injury. Despite this, the family, wearing wetsuits and carrying bodyboards, went into the sea.
Passer-by approaches family
A passer-by approached the family shortly before 2pm. The man in the wetsuit then confronted him, adopting a fighting stance before appearing to punch him. The passer-by left the scene, and the father headed into the water with one of his children.
An RNLI pickup truck arrived shortly afterwards, and lifeguards removed the family from the otherwise deserted beach, according to a witness.
Witness describes the altercation
The witness, who asked not to be named, told Cornwall Live: "I was just at Polzeath Beach and witnessed a family with young children enter the red-flagged beach.
"A passer-by then approached them and the father of the family proceeded to punch him in the face.
"The passer-by walked off after the altercation and a few minutes after the lifeguards on the beach asked the family to leave."
The witness added: "We were sat having a coffee and watched the family with very young-looking kids heading down to the water's edge, battling with their boogie boards.
"We thought they must be crazy going in as the swell and sea state was so rough, not to mention the 50 mph winds.
"After a couple of minutes of being in the water, a passer-by walked to the water's edge. We assumed they were suggesting it wasn't safe.
"Before long, the dad in the water sprinted out and started confronting the passer-by, who was obviously concerned for the family's safety.
"The dad then got very close to the passer-by and put his fists up. Before we could start recording, he punched him. The passer-by didn't seem to take the bait and shrugged it off."
Storm context
Storm Austen was the first named storm of the season and hit the UK on Friday, before Storm Boelo continued to batter the country over the rest of the weekend.
