by Zoran Sevic

There was an interesting situation that happened around 15 years ago. It was a free for all that involved half the patrons at a bar. It was complete with blood, person foaming at the mouth, a live band that kept playing during the mess, guy getting punched by a girl, beer bottles as weapons, and probably more than what I saw or remember. As the years go by, I have a harder time remembering the details. So, I wanted to publish this before old age takes it into obscurity.

Howard and the White Boys are playing. A very popular local band that had the bar packed. I’m the bouncer at the door. The band is to my left and the bar is past the band. There was a huge crowd in front of the band dancing and such. So many people in fact that getting to the bar from where I was at was problematic. My backup is Ray Long, a kenpo black belt at our school, and Mike Anderson, a kenpo brown belt at our school and one of the bar managers. Both of which, with the rest of the employees, were on the other side of the crowd.

Things are moving along fine until I see some patron argue with then push another patron. The patron that was pushed takes the butt end of his beer bottle and hits the other in the head. The other guy staggers and then rushes his attacker and now they are on the ground. From there, it erupts completely into a melee.  So what did I think? Probably not much. If I had, I probably would have let everyone knock each other our and dragged the bodies out for the ambulance or morgue to pick up. Instead, I did what any good dumb bouncer would do, I decided to go to the source of the commotion. Not easy considering it was in the middle of one huge mob of people. A mob that grew since it started. Because now there were others from other parts of the bar pouring in to join in on the action. Add the fact all my known friendlies were on the other side of that mob, well, I guess I was on my own.

For now, let’s leave my level of intelligence and sanity out of the story. By now, the crowd is larger and some are fighting each other. To get to the center, I had to wade through the combatants and onlookers. Would love to tell you how that happened, but I don’t recall. I vaguely remember grabbing, throwing and maybe hitting some people. I may have been hit to, but no idea. If this happened today, it would have been on youtube an hour later. Probably would have been used in court against me. Anyways, I eventually get to the source and find the guy that was originally hit with the beer bottle on top of the other guy, giving him a beating. So I grab the guy that is giving the beating and I remember thinking he is pretty slippery. The guy is in a complete frenzy and the only hold I could get on him was a side headlock position. Except it was a choke under his chin with my forearm. I ended up dragging him to the door in that choke. His legs were dragging and kicking on the ground. Before I could get to the door, some one’s big hand lands heavily on my shoulder. Heavy enough that it stopped me. I look over and there is one of those guys that looks to be about 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I figured it was the guys friend. He said something threatening, don’t recall what, so I hit him with a spear hand into the throat. He let go and was gagging so I continued my journey to the door.

I make it to the door and my buddy in the choke is now growling and snarling. Okaaaay…. That is not the best part, I get him on his back and am kneeling on him with my forearm into his throat. Not only is he snarling, his face was covered in blood and he was FOAMING AT THE MOUTH!! To say the least, I was shocked. Started thinking things like rabies, insanity or werewolf. So I talk to him and eventually calm him down enough to let him go and help him up. I help him walk outside and help him to sit down. Tell him to sit and relax due to his injury, which was one big nasty laceration on his forehead.

I walk back in to the bar and the fights are still going on. So here is were I don’t remember a lot. I walked in, grabbed a combatant, dragged and threw them out the door. Rinse and repeat.  At some point, I find Mike Anderson and Ray Long with my 5′x5′ buddy. They are both trying to push him out the door. Guy was like a tree rooted to the spot. Ray even kneed him one in the groin with no effect. So I grabbed him with my thumb and forefinger behind his throat and used that to push him out. He wanted to fight but decided it was not a good idea to fight me and my two friends, so he backed away.

Cops, paramedics, and a whole lot of sorting in the end. As I mentioned, the band, Howard and the White Boys, kept playing while all of this was happening. Talked to Howard and he said he was afraid to stop as they might turn on him. He also said that he had never seen anything like that. Considering how many bars and clubs these guys played in and for several years, I was impressed. Of course he was on the outside looking in. Which is a different view from being in the middle of it and looking out.

After the dust settles, we all sit down exchanging war stories. After all, what I was involved in was just a part of a bigger story. Everyone had something to share, manager, bouncers, bartenders and waitresses. I wish I could remember most of it because there was some great stuff there. Everyone did their part and I was far from the only one with a good story. There is one thing, one of the managers that was there, was trying to deal with some guy. All of a sudden, the guys girlfriend starts beating the crap out of him. So he ends up having to deal with her instead. We razzed him about that for a long time. While the rest of us were fighting and dealing with the mess, he’s off fighting girls.