England’s Vunipola tasered and arrested after violent incident in Majorca pub
MADRID : England rugby international Billy Vunipola was arrested by police in Majorca, Spain after being involved in a violent incident at a pub, reports in Spanish media said on Monday.
According to a report in the Ultima Hora newspaper, Vunipola was tasered twice by police after threatening customers and security personnel and removing his shirt in a bar named Epic in Palma early on Sunday.
The report added that the 31-year-old was handcuffed by the police and taken to the Son Espases hospital in Palma, where he was sedated, before being taken to court on Sunday afternoon.
Vunipola plays for Premiership Rugby club Saracens, who said in a statement that they were aware of the incident and would deal with it “internally”.
“In the early hours of yesterday morning, at 4.30 am, the National Police proceeded to the arrest of a 31-year-old foreign man, for a crime of disobedience and attacking a police officer…,” a spokesperson for the National Police in Majorca told Reuters.
“The police officers tried at all times to get him to calm down, but the man would not listen to reason. At that moment, the man pushed and slapped an officer and a policeman pulled out his electric stun gun and fired, hitting a projectile in the wallet, which did not discharge.
“A second projectile was then fired, which did the job, and it was then that the officers jumped on him and proceeded to immobilise him by shackling him, later taking him to Son Espases hospital for assessment and arrest.”
Vunipola has made 75 appearances for England and was part of the team that finished runners-up in the 2019 World Cup. He was not selected in the England squad for this year’s Six Nations.
His brother Mako also played for England until his retirement in January, while his father played for Tonga.