A video of violent assault against two women at the Pittsburgh gas station leads to numerous arrests

Service station employees were arrested for assault after videos showed them that they were engaging in a violent meeting with clients, Pittsburgh police said.

Cell phone images and a surveillance video showed three men beating two women last week in a clash that began as a result of gasoline spills at an Exxon station on Sept. 20, according to reports. authorities. The Pittsburgh police said the argument had begun when customers had requested a refund when a pump was malfunctioning and that they had been refused.

One of the two women, who was not identified by the police, was seen in the station's surveillance footage and toppled a display stand inside the store. It appeared that the fighting had started in the store and then went out to the pumping stations.

The video captured by a passerby on the outside showed the men screaming for the women's license plate number as they exited the station. The situation then escalated quickly when one of the men who worked at the gas station repeatedly hit one of the women at the back of the head.

The two women were slammed to the ground and beaten repeatedly by the men. One of the women was kept ground by one man, while another hit her.

Witnesses in the background shouted: "It's a girl, do not mess with a girl."

The three men, identified by the police as the owners of the service station and an employee, were arrested and charged with common assault.

After the images of the fight became viral, protesters tried to close the gas station and called for heavier accusations against the men.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala defended the charges of common assault and said on Wednesday that the altercation did not escalate into aggravated assault, according to NBC's affiliate, WPXI. .

The defense lawyer of two of the men, David Shrager, said Thursday that his clients were employees of unprecedented service stations with criminal records, according to WPXI. Since then, they have been suspended without pay.

The Pittsburgh Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for additional information from NBC News.