An ex-wrestler fought off seven police officers who tried to arrest him after he was stopped for drunk driving in Kiev, Ukraine. Vyacheslav Oliynyk, who won a gold medal for his country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, managed to ward off pepper spray and batons during the altercation, which took place as he celebrated his 50th birthday.
- Oliynyk didn’t know why his car had been stopped. In a video captured of the situation by traffic officials, the wrestler argued with officers bout why he’d been stopped before shoving one who tried to pepper spray him.
- His anger got the better of him. After the pepper spray came out, Oliynyk became even more infuriated, especially when he noticed the officers draw their batons. Despite bleeding heavily from his head and face after being struck, he continued the fight and launched himself at the officers.
- It took seven officers to subdue Oliynyk. All of them had to work together in order to wrestle (pun totally intended) the man to the ground. However, the battle wasn’t over just yet – they still struggled to get him in a leg lock and get handcuffs on him because he wouldn’t stop fighting back. He even told a female officer to “go f*** yourself.”
- Oliynyk’s young son witnessed the whole thing. It was only when friends who were with him pointed out the fact that his young son was in the car, scared and crying by what was happening. That seemed to be enough to calm him in the moment, but it wasn’t over yet.
- He plans to fight the police in court. “I admit I was partially guilty, I can’t tell you the whole thing,” he told local media. “I’m partly guilty because I did not stop and I was ignoring the police. But I am not a criminal. As far as I can see there will be a court hearing and they will punish me somehow because they always do. However, the fact that police let me go home on the same day shows I didn’t do anything that bad.”
