Man arrested after physical altercation outside the Peppertree

UPDATE 2/5/18 12:30 p.m.: Idaho Falls Police arrested 23-year-old Jordan Vielma of Iona for aggravated battery on Saturday.
Witnesses told police Vielma and Derek Yagues, the man who suffered the injuries, got in a verbal altercation which turned physical.

According to police, it is unclear who initiated the physical altercation.

UPDATE 2/4/18 11:12 a.m.: Idaho Falls Police have a suspect, who attacked Derek Yagues Saturday morning, in custody.

ORIGINAL: A local man is in the hospital with serious facial damage after he says he was assaulted while leaving a bar.

Gina Swem says her son, Derek Yagues, was leaving “Hurricanes,” often called, the “Peppertree” last night at around 2 A.M. when he was attacked by several people.

“It’s heartwrenching,” says Gina Swem, Yagues’ mother.

He has multiple facial fractures and had to have his jaw wired shut.

“That’s just the first of many. His face is too swollen to do anything else yet but we’re going to stand by him and be there for him. He has a huge huge support group,” says Swem.

She says it’s heartbreaking to see her son like this.

“He’s in bad shape and this shouldn’t happen, for any reason, this shouldn’t happen.”

She has a message for whoever did this to her son.

“We are going to find you. We’ve got over 400 shares and we will find you and you will be held accountable. I trust our Idaho Falls police department and this happened at the Peppertree and I trust that the Peppertree cares about their customers that they’ll do what they have to do to help us find them too. We will find you.”

The bar doesn’t have security cameras. Officers are currently investigating and interviewing witnesses. If you have any information that could help, contact the Idaho Falls Police Department at 208-529-1200 or you can call crime stoppers at 208-522-1983.