Two Langley RCMP officers were bitten while trying to arrest an extremely intoxicated man outside a local nightclub early Saturday.

Two officers were outside Jimmy Liks Nightclub, on 60th Avenue between 196th Street and the Langley Bypass, said Cpl. Holly Marks, spokesperson for the local RCMP.

The Friday night crowd was clearing out and the officers were alerted by bouncers about an intoxicated man.

The two officers spoke to the man briefly, but were then called away to prevent a fight breaking out elsewhere nearby.

Once that crisis was dealt with, the officers found the man again. His friends said they would take care of him, but the man had other ideas.

He broke free, fell face first to the pavement, then got up and ran away again.

He sprinted towards the Langley Bypass, stripping off his shirt on his way.

Officers followed him and found him a short distance away, inside the nearby McDonald’s, lying on the floor.

Again the man’s friends tried to help, but he was not interested in their aid, Marks said. He ran outside and collapsed in the parking lot.

Since he was unable to care for himself, the officers told the man he was under arrest.

They picked him up off the pavement, but he began yelling and refused to cooperate.

As they picked him up to put him in the police car, the man allegedly bit one officer in the ankle, and the other on the hand.

One of the officers needed medical treatment for the bite to his hand, and the other did not need to go to the hospital.

This is “an example of what our officers are often subjected to,” said Insp. Stephan Drolet.

The 23-year-old Langley man is now facing the possibility of criminal charges, Marks said.

If he had simply been arrested for intoxication, he would have spent the night in an RCMP cell and been released without charge in the morning when he was sober.