Jury gives damages to both sides in bar fight
Posted on Friday, July 25, 2008
A Washington County jury awarded damages Thursday to both the bouncer and bar patron who got into a fight on Dec. 9, 2007, at Stir on Dickson Street in Fayetteville.
The jury awarded $ 3, 800 to bouncer Reed Garner of Bentonville, the plaintiff; and $ 1, 000 to patron Clint Penzo of Tontitown, the defendant.
Garner had asked for $ 3, 835 for medical bills he incurred after the defendant broke a 22-ounce glass beer mug on his head.
Penzo had asked for compensation totaling $ 2, 800 for medical bills that resulted from treatment for a separated shoulder he suffered during the brawl.
"This case is not about a bar fight. This case is about a guy doing his job at closing time getting assaulted by a patron," Jeff Fletcher, attorney for the plaintiff, said during opening remarks.
"It sure was a bar fight, and someone started it - Mr. Reed Garner," defense attorney Steve Gunderson said.
He said that Garner provoked the fight by first cussing at Penzo, and then shoving him into a wall.
"If I walk into a bar and someone cusses me, I care," said Gunderson.
He tried to convince jurors that the blame was shared.
"It all boils down to what happened in 45 seconds," Gunderson said. "We've got two big ol' boys who got hurt playing. They got into a tussle. It's a shame for both of them. They both knew better."
Garner stood 6 feet 4 inches and weighed between 260 and 270 pounds on the night of the fight, he testified. He regularly lifted weights and practiced sparring "for fun "with a winner of a couple "Toughman"amateur fights, he said.
On Dec. 9, he worked during the day as a security guard and in the evening as a bouncer at Stir. At 1: 42 a. m., he turned on the lights in the bar and the disc jockey and bouncers started telling people to leave, he said. This was the nightly routine to get everyone out by 2 a. m., he said.
"You going to drink that or hold it like a fashion statement," Garner asked Penzo after the lights went on. Garner said he was smiling and trying to be funny when he said it.
Penzo asked him what he'd said and then cussed Garner. Penzo had been out with friends drinking earlier before a designated driver took him to Stir sometime after midnight, witnesses said.
Garner, who never drinks alcohol at work, responded to the cussing by telling Penzo," There's really no need for that. I've heard enough. You all just get the hell out of here," he testified.
"It was time for me to get the point across," he testified.
The two men - both about the same size - stood eye to eye before Garner shoved Penzo up against the wall. Garner testified that he saw Penzo move his shoulder and he believed he was going to hit him with a beer mug.
Penzo claimed that he hit Garner with the mug as he was falling back and his arms were flailing. He said Garner cussed at him to provoke the altercation before shoving him.
Garner claimed that after the shove Penzo took a full swing and broke the mug against the side of his head, requiring several stitches. Within seconds, another bouncer, who weighs about 350 pounds, was on top of Penzo, he said.
Fletcher challenged Penzo's story about the beer mug.
"This whole falling back and flailing stuff just does not add up," Fletcher said.
Garner testified that his clothing did not indicate that he worked for the bar or as a bouncer. He had been involved in less than a half dozen altercations involving punches with other patrons before this incident, he said. The bar did not have any written procedures for bouncers to follow, he said.
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