Eyewitness describes fatal weekend altercation at Saskatoon nightclub

Warning: This story contains details readers may find disturbing.

A Saskatoon woman who recorded a fatal altercation at a downtown nightclub is still not certain why she began watching the woman now charged with manslaughter.

"I don't really even know what caught my eye," said the witness, who recorded the fight on her phone. CBC is not naming her because she fears for her safety due to the response online to individuals who recorded that night.

"She casually put her purse down on the bar counter and then walked back … I think they must have known that they were going to start fighting because there was already a line cleared when she walked over to the bar."

Paige Theriault-Fisher, 22, is charged with manslaughter in the death of 23-year-old Hodan Hashi on Nov. 5 at LIT Nightclub. Theriault-Fisher had initially been charged with second-degree murder, but police downgraded the charge hours after her arrest.

LIT Nightclub is above the Crazy Cactus bar on Third Avenue South. Both establishments are owned by the same company. The owners declined interview requests.

People were at the club early Saturday morning for an after-party for a DJ who had performed at a different downtown club on Friday night.

Security at LIT that night was typically tight, said the woman who recorded the incident and a second witness, a man who was at the club during the fight. CBC is also not naming the man, because he is concerned for his safety due to the racially charged comments on social media.

Both say that people coming to the club that night had to pass three layers of security. There was a pat-down by security at the door, a metal detector they had to walk through and then a manual check with a wand. All bags and purses were also checked at the door.

The woman who recorded the incident did not know Theriault-Fisher or Hashi. She said Theriault-Fisher and Hashi began fighting in a booth and "it wasn't long before they were on the floor."

"Everything happened extremely fast."

At least three videos showing various angles of the altercation circulated on social media. The videos were provided to CBC.

They show two women standing and grappling while bystanders watch. One woman has the other in a headlock and then they go to the floor together. A person over a PA system can be heard saying, "We have a b---h fight on the dance floor."

The two women wrestle for a moment and one of them repeatedly strikes the other in the area of her face and neck. It's not clear whether she's holding an object while striking.

Then, a massive pool of blood appears beneath the woman on the bottom.

The two are separated and both stand. The injured woman wipes blood from her neck, walks a few paces and then collapses.

The woman who recorded it said that, from her vantage point, it was clear that Hashi was injured when she fell onto a broken glass on the floor.

"You can see the cup slide out one point [in the videos]," she said.

"Either the cup was in the booth and when they fell it ended up on the floor, or the cup was already on the floor."

Both witnesses said that security in the bar responded to the fight immediately after the DJ announced it over the PA system.

"The bouncers were over there instantly because everybody knows you're not allowed to fight in this club," the woman said.

Someone pulled a fire alarm right after the fight "and the bar started emptying, people were running," she said.

Theriault-Fisher is in custody and is scheduled to return to provincial court Thursday.