By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
An early-morning brawl at a Salisbury club resulted in a pair of arrests over the weekend.
The brouhaha took place in Saturday’s wee hours at Club La Bamba at 200 Klumac Road.
“In a nutshell, it was just a big bar fight,” said Steve Whitley, Salisbury’s deputy chief of police. He estimated that about 25 people were involved in the fight.
Whitley said police officers hired by the club were working in the parking lot while the private club’s own security crew was working inside. A fight broke out inside the club shortly after 1 a.m. and spilled into the parking lot.
Arrested was Monique LaQuinda Barber, 22, of 908 E. 10th St., Kannapolis, and Michael Jeffrey Fox, 29, of 220 S. Oakhurst Drive, Salisbury.
According to police reports, Barber shoved Officer Shanita Millsaps as Millsaps ordered her and a group of other females to leave. Barber is also accused of striking Officer Christopher Hamm in the head with a set of car keys, scratching him and leaving him bleeding.
Barber continued to fight with officers, eventually losing her shirt and bra in the scuffle. She was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car where a female officer helped cover her.
Barber was charged with two counts of assault on a government official, intoxicated and disruptive and resist, obstruct and delay a public officer. She was released under a $4,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 28.
Fox was charged with disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. According to police reports, officers and club security members were trying to separate a large number of combatants when Fox delivered a kick-stomp into the pile.
He was charged with resist, delay and obstruct a public officer, assault on a government official and communicating threats. Whitley said Fox threatened to kill the officers working to break up the fight. He was denied bond.
On Sunday, Fox was arrested again, this time for possessing a controlled substance in jail. He was given a $4,000 bond for that charge. As of Monday, he was still incarcerated. He is scheduled to be tried Oct. 21.
Whitley said it’s common for clubs like La Bamba to hire off-duty officers to work security in parking lots. He said the police department has a policy forbidding off-duty officers from working inside an establishment where alcohol is being served.
“It keeps us from being compromised,” Whitley said.
The owners of most clubs, Whitley said, do like La Bamba and hire their own security crews for inside work. He said that as a result of such arrangements, fights inside the establishments are frequently in full force before the officers working outside are alerted.
Whitley said most combatants leave when ordered by police to do so, but said a handful stay and fight anyone within arm’s reach. Whitley said that’s what Fox did, also threatening any officer within earshot.
“It’s just typical chin music when there’s a bar fight,” Whitley said.
He said the greater problem that’s got to be addressed following Saturday’s fight is the issue of keeping such events from being repeated. Whitley said La Bamba had in years past had a history of being the site of numerous fights, but he said get-togethers at the club have recently been more tame.
Whitley said the club’s owner had rented the facility to another individual for a party that started Friday night and ended with Saturday morning’s brawl. He said police will be meeting with both the owner and the man who rented the club to discuss what happened.
“They’re going to have to have a better plan to police these events,” Whitley said. “We’re not trying to put anyone out of business, but we want them to know who’s responsible.”