MONTREAL, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Montreal police officer was seriously injured in a beating in a Mexican bar, allegedly carried out by Quebec bikers, the Montreal Police Department says.
The beating occurred in a bar in Cancun, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported. The victim was on vacation in nearby Playa del Carmen with eight colleagues from Quebec when he and two other officers decided to hit the nightspots in Cancun Jan. 8, police said.
Montreal Police Department spokesman Sgt. Ian Lafreniere said the officer, separated from his friends, was apparently attacked as he tried to take a photograph of a member of the Quebec Hells Angels chapter.
His friends said when they found him he was almost unrecognizable because of blows to his head.
Montreal police were trying to determine whether the officer was attacked because he was with the police. Mexican investigators have said they believe the incident was a bar fight, unconnected to the victim's job.
The officer returned to Montreal Tuesday after undergoing surgery in a Mexican hospital.
