Stories
Have You Ever Broken Up a Fight?
By Josh Board | Published Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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I’ve had a lot. The worst was when I was a bouncer at Typhoon Saloon. It was when the Super Bowl was here with the Raiders. This DJ had a habit of lowering the lights after certain songs, and when they came back on, there were five guys going for it. I jumped in and lost my flashlight. My radio also came off. I just started peeling bodies back. I finally got to the two guys, and one had ahold of [the other’s] hair and was slamming his head into the ground. Usually those guys are just wimps. But if you have any area that mixes men and women and throwing alcohol into the mix…fights start.
Jeremy Carpenter
Bouncer
East County
My ex got into a fight with this drunk guy. It was in a bar, and this Marine made a few comments to me. Yes, there was alcohol involved. And maybe there are some women out there that would like to see men fighting over them. I hated being forced to try and break it up. Good times.
Chatel Estae
Waitress
Mission Valley
Yeah, but it was way back in high school. There was a party at my girlfriend’s house. Two guys were trying to get in, and they were known as fighters. I was keeping them out, and two other guys I didn’t know got into a fight outside. I broke that fight up and turn around to see a full-blown brawl. The two guys that initially fought were hugging each other. Cops showed up, and people were being thrown on the hoods of cars. It was ugly.
Javier Vargas
Truck Driver
Escondido
It was in North Park, and I was with my kid, who’s 23. We were at a gay bar. A guy was looking at him and eventually ended up getting into our faces. I was in front of my son, being the protective mother. They ended up rolling around on the ground and out onto the street. The bartender ended up pulling us all apart.
Danielle Fergus
Nurse
Washington
My friend Darren and me are expatriates who often had a couple of beers after work in Tijuana. One evening this guy got drunk and hassled Darren. Everyone in the bar warned this guy to leave him alone, but he kept on. Darren got up to use the restroom, and the guy followed. We heard Darren yelling, “Wait till I’m finished, you bastard!” Then we see the guy flying backward out the door and Darren follows, zipping up his pants. The owner of the bar and I got out there and separated them. The next day the guy came back and found Darren and would’ve been choked to death, but everyone begged [Darren] to get off of the guy. He came back again — to apologize to Darren and thank the cantinera for saving his life.
David Dodd
Engineer
Tijuana
I was at a show. DJ Premiere was spinning in the Gaslamp a few years back. I was in town visiting on a break from school. Premo was getting nasty, hitting us with cut after cut after cut. We are dancing, and one of my boys is a little more faded than the others. He bumps a few guys dancing around where he was, and next thing I knew, fists were flying everywhere. He’s the one usually to start scrapping, so I just pulled him off along with the help of a few buddies. Once things settled, we got kicked out of the club. I remember being so heated because he didn’t remember how or what happened.
Omar Nene
Entrepreneur
San Diego
lol david...i can just picture the guy flying out of the bathroom wit a toilet seat around his neck ;)
By magicsfive 11:37 p.m., Jul 8, 2009 > Report it
Ha! I didn't have enough time to tell more stories about Darren and me. I have a better one. I couldn't have fit it into Josh's column, but I'll tell it here in a weblog entry at some point.
Look at us! We're all SD famous. And you're on top ;)
By refriedgringo 11:55 p.m., Jul 8, 2009 > Report it
we are famous cuz we rock so freakin hard...plus im a lil buzzed...
By magicsfive 12:09 a.m., Jul 9, 2009 > Report it
it's ironic that this topic came up in the reader. just a couple of days ago my friend broke up a fight between another friend and her mom! I mean, they were going at it like they were from 2 different gangs! so my friend goes in to break them up & gets her finger severely bitten in the chaos! She lost half her fingernail & it looks NASTY! she should get a shot.
By ib_adjacent 12:44 p.m., Jul 9, 2009 > Report it
#4: Absolutely she should. Humans' mouths are so full of bacteria that when a person bites you, ALWAYS get it treated professionally -- go to ER, in other words.
Never heard of a mom-and-daughter catfight. Wow.
By russl 1:01 p.m., Jul 9, 2009 > Report it
ouch. she definitely should get a shot!!!!!!!!! wow...brutal..
By magicsfive 1:02 p.m., Jul 9, 2009 > Report it
I saw a Forensic Files a few months back. A lady in her 60s or 70s, was murdered. A few things were stolen from her hotel room. They had no leads.
But, they eventually caught the old black maintence man that worked at the hotel. He had some of her stuff in his trunk, but what keyed them in...was that he had this infection on his knuckle that got so bad, doctors almost thought about amputating.
The doctor explained how if you punch someone (even though that's not a bite), that can often happen when the tooth scrapes your hand. And, this guy had knocked a few of her teeth out
(of course, his family is claiming he's innocent...even though he had a previous record).
By JoshBoard 3:15 p.m., Jul 9, 2009 > Report it
uh, yeah... I have 2 boys: 5 and 15 months!
By tikicult 6:15 p.m., Jul 9, 2009 > Report it
"Chatel" you're telling me you had 3 step-brothers and two sisters, plus a maid named Alice, and you never had to break up a fight between Bobby and Cindy, or Peter and Greg? Nothing?
By rickeysays 5:03 p.m., Jul 12, 2009 > Report it
Yeah - don't you remember that time that Peter and Alice were kind of wrestling on the couch after everyone else had gone to bed? It wasn't exactly wrestling.. but they were all sweaty and squrming around...
Maybe its better that you left them alone.
- JOe
By tikicult 8:39 a.m., Jul 13, 2009 > Report it
When originally asked for an answer on this one, I guess I repressed the memory of the following event, since it was so sickeningly real. (I also hope calling 911 counts as breaking up a fight--others were involved more physically). Here goes: A couple of years ago, I awoke to loud female voices outside my first floor balcony. A young woman was attempting to get into her car with her baby, who appeared to be about a year old, a curly blond-haired little cherub. Her mother was trying to prevent the young woman from getting the child into the car and taking off. They were pushing, slapping, and clawing at one another's skin and hair, with the child between them all the while. As I dialed 911, standing on my porch, the mother made a lunge at the daughter, knocking her over, and the baby boy fell hard to the sidewalk, practically rolling into the bushes.
I stayed on the phone, narrating the scene blow by blow to the operator as it took place just a few feet in front of my screen. I wanted to go out and get the child, but the operator told me my job was to stay on the phone and report everything as it happened, and that the police would be there any second. Just then, a young woman who lived across the street dashed over, picked up the baby, soothing him, and took him to safety into her fenced-in yard. He had been screaming, but began to cling to her, tucking his head under her neck and sucking his thumb. The two women proceeded to have a knock-down drag-out catfight, oblivious to the fact that the baby had been taken away.
The police arrived and separated the two women, who sat crying on the sidewalk, as they tried to sort out the story. I tried to check up on the case--and welfare of the child--later with the assigned detective, but was never able to reach him and he did not return my calls. One thing I learned from the police on the scene is that these two had been at it before, and lived only a couple of blocks away. They mentioned that the mother may have been worried about the daughter being on drugs and driving with the child. I sincerely hope child protective services were engaged to check out the fitness of this poor boy's home.
It was the one of the most horrible rushes of adrenaline I've ever had, and I very much respect what emergency operators have to go through daily. A shout out to the lovely young girl who ran out and grabbed that child!
By SDaniels 9:46 a.m., Jul 13, 2009 > Report it
Well SD, you did intervene by calling the cops...thank goodness you did. so many people just don't want to get involved. i'm so glad you did. how awful for that sweet baby to have to witness that. i am guessing it wasn't his first time being in the middle of something like that. and definitely kudos to the girl who came to his rescue, and to you, for making that call :)
By magicsfive 6:52 p.m., Jul 13, 2009 > Report it
I've broken up a few dog fights. I think I'd get my ass kicked if I tried to break up a people fight.
By Mindy1114 1:03 a.m., Jul 23, 2009 > Report it