This is the terrifying moment a man staggers towards a restaurant clutching his face while begging for help after a liquid was thrown over him by distraction thieves.
Mike Glover-Johnson, 46, was sitting in his parked car on a high street in Walsall, West Midlands when he was attacked on Sunday night.
Footage from a nearby restaurant shows two men open his car doors, steal his laptop and run into a blue getaway car waiting in the road.
Mr Glover-Johnson feared the substance they poured on him was acid because he could feel his face burning and staggered into a takeaway screaming for help.
He was later rushed to hospital but was found to be unhurt and today West Midlands police said the substance was ‘non-corrosive’.
Mike Glover-Johnson, who is in his forties, has taken to Facebook from his hospital bed after he had a liquid thrown over his face
Police were sent to High Street in Bloxwich, Walsall at around 6.50pm following reports of an incident
This is the moment thieves hurled liquid into a man’s face to distract him while they stole his laptop from his car
Responding to the allegations, Sayed Hashmi, 34, the owner of Chunky Grill, said he did all he could to help Mr Glover-Johnson
A statement read: ‘Detectives have now reviewed CCTV footage and suspect the liquid was thrown as a tactic designed to distract the man while his lap-top was swiped from the passenger seat.’
Police are still working out what the substance was and said it is not clear why Mr Glover-Johnson felt his face was burning.
Sayed Hasmi, the owner of the restaurant, spoke out tonight as he handed MailOnline CCTV showing the victim, who he recognised as a regular customer, appealing for help. He had already given the footage to detectives.
Mr Hasmi, 34, said: ‘His pal was screaming “Give me water!” and we gave three or four small bottles from the fridge and then filled two bucket loads of water which the man poured over him.
‘There were red marks over his face and he later went to hospital. What happened was awful and I hope he’s OK.’
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Mr Glover-Johnson claimed staff at the Chunky Grill restaurant refused to help him while his face was ‘burning with acid’.
He wrote: ‘Any witnesses to me being randomly attacked with acid this evening?
‘Thankfully people helped and their quick reactions may have stopped permanent scarring.
‘But Chunky Grill in Bloxwich threw me out while my face was burning with acid and demanded payment from [my husband] Lee for the water that was saving me.
‘Yes you read it correctly. Hopefully whoever did this gets caught. And Chunky Grill owes me and Bloxwich an explanation.’
Mike Glover-Johnson, 46, was sitting in his parked car on a high street in Walsall, West Midlands when he was attacked on Saturday night
Lee Glover-Johnson (left), 41, and his husband Mike Glover-Johnson (right), 46. Mike is now recovering at home after acid was thrown on his face
Father-of-two Mr Hashmi fiercely denied false rumours that he had asked the victim, 46, and his husband Lee Glover-Johnson, to leave his restaurant and tried to charge them for the water.
The claims, which he insists are ‘totally false’ and an ‘unfortunate mistake ‘ have led to an outpouring of hate towards the boss of social media.
He said: ‘There is no way we charged or tried to charge the man, who I have known as a customers for the past three it four years, for 50 pence bottles of water.
‘There was a misunderstanding and it has been cleared up.’ The restaurant owner visited the man at his home earlier today after his release from hospital.
He explained: ‘He is still shaken up by what happened and I apologised for the misunderstanding which he accepted.
‘He knows he is welcome at my restaurant any time and I wish him a speedy recovery.
‘Mr Hasmi added: ‘A lot of people are posting bad and threatening comments. I’m getting lots of hate mail with sine people saying they want to burn my place down and will never eat here again.
‘It is all very worrying because we’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. We helped the man and face the police CCTV footage which will hopefully help their investigation.’
The acid attack victim’s partner Lee Glover-Johnson was buying food from the Chunky Grill in Bloxwich at the time of the incident. Both men claim the restaurant didn’t do enough to help following the attack