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Published February 03, 2009, 12:00 AM

Slugfests knock down three, and leave knife wounds

River Falls police are sorting through two brutal fights. One occurred Jan. 24 at Johnnies Bar, 116 N. Main St. The other occurred at a rental house during a party at 227 N. Third St. Jan. 23. In the first incident, three young local men were decked by the same assailant. Two of the victims were knocked out cold. In the second incident, a brawl erupted over a stolen can of beer and ended with a 19-year-old Hudson man getting slashed and stabbed with a knife.

By: Phil Pfuehler, River Falls Journal

River Falls police are sorting through two brutal fights. One occurred Jan. 24 at Johnnies Bar, 116 N. Main St. The other occurred at a rental house during a party at 227 N. Third St. Jan. 23. In the first incident, three young local men were decked by the same assailant. Two of the victims were knocked out cold. In the second incident, a brawl erupted over a stolen can of beer and ended with a 19-year-old Hudson man getting slashed and stabbed with a knife.

The 19-year-old didn’t realize he was knifed until after leaving the house party when he felt blood sticking to his clothes. His wounds were to his lower right chest and left hip.

It was the 19-year-old who brought beer to the party and had a can stolen that triggered fighting. The 19-year-old slugged another man for taking his beer. That man fell, bleeding heavily from the face. After that others at the party joined in the fighting.

Police know most of the people involved in this disturbance, but have yet to find the knife or the person who used it.

In the Johnnies fight, the male suspect was supposedly upset at how his buddy who had passed out at the bar was being treated. He eventually threw punches that knocked down three local men – two who were briefly unconscious. In the end he was forced out of the bar before police arrived.

The investigation in this case also continues. A police investigator said the suspect has been identified and attempts are being made to question him.

Police also had their share of drunk drivers to handle in the past week:

  • A 25-year-old UW-RF student lost control of his car while driving north on Hwy. 35 at 2 a.m. Sunday and rolled into the ditch by County Road U. His car was smashed and he was found wondering nearby, bleeding from the head and hands. A wrecker was called for his car and an officer drove the man to the hospital.

  • A 29-year-old local woman who wound up on the sidewalk snowbank by Walgreen’s on North Main Street at 2:20 a.m. Sunday. Her car, which was still running when an officer arrived, also had to be towed.

  • An 18-year-old UW-RF student who was first stopped for speeding on East Cascade Avenue at 2 a.m. last Thursday.

  • A 43-year-old Spring Valley man after leaving a downtown bar Friday evening. An anonymous caller phoned to tip police off about an intoxicated driver leaving this bar.

    And last week police also arrested a 26-year-old Stillwater, Minn., man for trying to walk out of the south entrance of EconoFoods with more than $200 worth of unpaid groceries in his cart. According to the store’s video surveillance, the man was already a suspect for allegedly doing the same thing a week earlier. That first theft also included stolen liquor. During questioning the man said he was jobless and needed food for his family. The alcohol, he allegedly admitted, had been for him.

    For more details, please read Police Beat in the Feb. 4 print edition of the River Falls Journal.

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