Man who tried to break up bar fight is beaten to death

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. -- A man died shortly after being assaulted Tuesday night while trying to break up a bar fight, reports CBS Minnesota.

Police were called Tuesday to Fred's Tiki Hut in Maplewood, Minn., where they talked with the victim, Eduardo Alberto Figueroa, who said he had been knocked down and kicked multiple times in the face and head.

Three suspects allegedly fled in a car before police arrived.

Figueroa refused to be seen by paramedics and told police he was going to go to the hospital on his own. He went to his St. Paul, Minn., home, however, and about an hour later told his family he felt ill and soon fell unconscious.

When emergency responders arrived, Figueroa had stopped breathing and had no pulse. He was pronounced dead at the home.

It was Figueroa's 40th birthday.

One of the suspects, identified as 23-year-old Brandon Jermel Smith of St. Paul, was arrested without incident on suspicion of homicide.

Police say an investigation indicates that after an argument, a woman associated with Smith and another male suspect allegedly began to assault another woman at the bar.

Figueroa, a married father of three, stepped in to try to break up the assault, but was allegedly knocked to the floor himself and kicked in the face and head by Smith and the other man.

Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell says the entire incident was recorded on surveillance video.

"You see this man go down on the floor, you see him get kicked several times ... we believe for at least for a short period of time, he was unconscious, and then you see the suspects leave the bar," Schnell said.

Daniel Medina, a longtime friend and employee of Figueroa's at a tattoo parlor, struggles with how his boss died.

"It hasn't sunk in deep, I just keep thinking of all the good times," Medina said. "Advice he would give to me about life and trying harder."