Four people have been arrested after a man lost his thumb in a daytime brawl outside an Inverness bookmakers.
The fight took place near the Church Street office of Ladbrokes at around 2pm on Thursday.
A video of the incident was captured by stunned onlookers who appeared to barricade themselves against the fracas before later sharing it online.
In the shocking footage, both men and women seem to be involved in an apparent altercation.
One of the men can then be seen inspecting his injured hand before attempting to enter the bookmakers’ premises and asking staff to call for an ambulance.
It is understood the 35-year-old man’s thumb became trapped during the scuffle before being torn clean off.
He was later taken to Raigmore hospital for treatment to his injuries.
The man was due to be transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary yesterday for surgery to be carried out.
A video of the alleged brawl has been viewed more than 400,000 times on Facebook.
Eyewitness Adey Stubbings can be heard repeatedly shouting “he’s chomped his finger off” in disbelief.
But it is believed that the body part did not come off as a direct result of any alleged assault and had instead become trapped during the fracas.
Mr Stubbings said: “I wanted to get away from blood.
“I said to one of the boys I’m going to find the finger not expecting to but when I did I just thought wow then thought I need to get a pic to show the lads.
“I don’t think anyone would have believed me if I had not filmed it myself.”
Two men and two women have been detained in connection with the alleged brawl and a report is due to be submitted to the procurator fiscal.
Inspector Alex Chisholm said: “We have had a number of calls from members of the public offering information in relation to this incident and I would like to thank them for their assistance.
“We do not require any further witnesses at this stage but we are extremely grateful for the help provided so far.”
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman added: “We received a call at 2.07pm on Thursday to attend an incident on Church Street in Inverness.
“We dispatched one ambulance to the scene.
“One male patient in his thirties was taken to Raigmore Hospital.”