sport news Moment topless England rugby star Billy Vunipola laughs as police try to Taser ... trends now

This is the moment England rugby star Billy Vunipola laughed after police tried to Taser him during a wild incident inside a late-night bar in Majorca. 

Witnesses told today how the 6ft 2in 20-stone giant appeared unfazed by the first stun gun shot, although police admitted today it hadn't discharged and the player was only knocked to the ground when police fired at him a second time.

Vunipola, 31, was arrested and taken to hospital by ambulance with a police guard following the drama in the early hours of Sunday morning at Epic bar in the island capital Palma.

He was later hauled in front of a judge for questioning before being released on conditional bail pending an ongoing probe. His whereabouts this morning was unclear.

Today bar owner Toni Rocha praised police and his doormen for the way they had resolved a 'very difficult' and 'very tense' situation.

Denying local reports the rugby player had threatened customers and staff with bottles and chairs, but confirming he had caused problems and had confronted police when they arrived, he said: 'Far from calming down when he saw the police he became worse.

'I heard him insult police and say 'F**king cops' at one point and there was another moment where he had his shirt off and hit an officer in the face with the top in his hand as the officer tried to reason with him.' 

Giving a blow-by-blow account of the night's events, Mr Rocha said: 'He arrived just before 3am on Sunday morning with a friend who I believe is also a rugby player.

'I know they'd been drinking in the Santa Catalina neighbourhood before they came here because a waiter who we know who works in a bar there and was in on Saturday night told us.

'It was just Billy and his friend but when they ordered the first round they asked for six Amarettos with orange juice and freshly squeezed lime.

'I know because I served them. I'm pretty sure they drank them between the two of them, with Billy having four and the friend the other two.

'The friend was fine but Billy started becoming a problem as he became drunker. I had to ask him to put his top on at one point when he took it off while he was at the bar.

'The first time I asked him to put his shirt on he was propping himself up at the bar with his elbows and he was drinking from one of the glasses I'd poured him and had another three drinks in a triangle in front of him.

'He didn't threaten customers or staff with bottles or bar stalls or anything like that but he was annoying other customers by pushing them, not in a violent way, but elbowing them and bothering them.

'He put his shirt on when I asked him to first time round. His friend who was co-operative at all times helped him put it back on. But then he took it off a second time and then a third and we decided to call police.

'I'd already got the doormen involved to try to get him to leave and his friend was assisting us but there was just no way we could get him to abandon the premises and the situation was becoming very tense and we saw we were going to have a problem if we tried to use physical force to get him out.

'I warned his friend I was going to call police and he said: 'Do what you have to do.' 'We thought he was going to calm down when he saw uniformed officers arrive but when the first police appeared on the scene he confronted them and they had to call for back-up.

'It was around 4am and we still had more than an hour left before we were supposed to close.

'When the back-up arrived the police told us to clear the bar, put the lights on and cut the music.

'The rugby player reacted by confronting the officers when they went to talk to him and insult them. I heard him saying 'f***ing cops'. He also hit one of them with his shirt in his hand.

'They tried to get him out and couldn't until they tasered him. He laughed the first time they went to taser him, it was like a film, and I heard the words ''another one'' and the second time round he fell to the ground and the officers immobilised him and put wrist-ties on him.' 

He added: 'We're considering filing a formal complaint because between the hour or more we had to close at what is normally a really busy time of the night and the drinks that were unpaid for when we had to clear the premises, we've lost more than £2,000.

'He was the only reason we had to clear the premises. The first and second time his friend helped him put his shirt back on and I got security involved after that. My doormen handled the situation very well and the police also.

'It could have turned out very different and ended very badly because we were dealing with a strong man who was very drunk and was acting inappropriately and refusing requests for him to leave.

'We felt things could have got broken or he could have assaulted someone if we tried to force him out.

'I didn't feel frightened, it was more a feeling of impotence that we couldn't get him to abandon the premises. But some clients, especially women clients, were feeling frightened and very uncomfortable.

'I discovered the friend was also a rugby player, a teammate of his I think, when the police were talking to him.

'The police were on the scene very quickly and the ambulance arrived later. He was taken away on a stretcher and he was calm by that point.

'He was talking in English and I think he was asking to be left alone but I couldn't understand very well what he was saying.'