ACC police incident report

Bourbon Street bar scuffle ends with blood, cops

Priorities 'terrible' in emergency response

By: CAROLYN CRIST

Posted: 7/17/08

A night downtown ended in bloody noses for a few and a cut in the abdomen for one early Wednesday.

A fight ensued at Bourbon Street bar on Broad Street when someone accused a male student of bumping into a girl, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.

"I was smoking a cigarette outside when a fight spilled outside with maybe five people against three who were kicked out of the bar because they tried to fight inside," junior Taylor Lorio said. "They were rolling around, and one was cut on the left side of the chest. You don't really expect that at Bourbon Street."

A University police officer was flagged down, and ACC police were called to the scene minutes later.

"I arrived and the victim, Ben Moss, was sitting on the curb holding his side," wrote ACC Officer K. A. Thornton. "Friends were around him. They said he fell on something, either a bottle or the cafe railing."

Thornton surveyed the bar and saw blood on the floor near the first booth and a bloody broken bottle in the trash. University police detained Steven Underwood because "people were pointing him out."

Underwood and Patrick Willis said they walked into the bar when someone accused Willis of bumping into a girl. He apologized, and a fight ensued inside. Once it was moved outside, Christina Moinipour was knocked to the ground and stepped on, and Willis had a "busted nose," according to the report.

Moss and Underwood were involved in a second fight outside.

"They grappled and fell to the ground, and a bottle was crushed by Ben, causing his injury," Thornton wrote.

No weapons were found near the scene. Moss was transported to Athens Regional Medical Center.

"It took five minutes for cops to get there, which is terrible downtown, and they asked if the guy with the cut was ok when he sat on the corner, scrambling to get stuff to put on the wound," Lorio said. "Paramedics arrived 10 to 12 minutes later, and there were about eight cops on the scene - not paying attention to the victim, just trying to round up people from the fight. Priorities were terrible."