Ronan police still looking into New Year's fight

RONAN — Lori Peterson, owner of the Pheasant Lounge, came to the Ronan City Council meeting Monday night to clear up misconceptions about a scuffle between a Pheasant Lounge patron and a Ronan police officer that took place at her establishment New Year's Eve.

The rumor that it was a "barroom brawl" is false, she said. It just some patrons having words outside of the bar. In fact, things didn't get physical until several Ronan police showed up, Peterson said.

Things began when two men were having an argument in the lounge. To avoid any physical confrontations in her bar, one of the men was asked to leave. As a result, friends from the pair of men convened outside where more verbal squabbling continued, Peterson said.

That was when several Ronan police officers showed up, out of uniform, to break up things up. But Peterson said there was nothing to break up.

"There was just a couple of guys having words. There was no fight," she said. "It wasn't a fight until the cops showed up."

Peterson claims to have seen one of the plain-clothed police officers grab one of the men from behind and jerk him around. The man, not realizing it was a cop, punched the officer.

"I saw it happen, but I didn't know it was Steve Hughes (a Ronan police officer)," Peterson said. "His back was turned to me."

Peterson is critical about how the police handled the situation, saying that to come up from behind someone in the middle of the argument and forcefully try to spin him around was "a stupid thing to do."

"That is not a good thing to do when there is already people arguing," she said.

Peterson claimed that none of the police gave any indication that they were police officers out of uniform.

The man who was fighting with Hughes, whose name is not known at this time, was informed by a bartender that Hughes was a police officer. The man immediately stopped, Peterson said, and looked regretful.

"My bartender got on top of him and shouted 'He's a cop!' 'He's a cop!,'" Peterson said.

There is also the rumor that a man received a laceration on his head in the midst of the incident, but Peterson said that was completely unrelated and it was merely an accident. One of her patrons accidentally hit his head in the doorway and reopened an existing scar on his head. Peterson said that happened just shortly before the police arrived.

Peterson quickly shut down the bar after the incident.

Ronan Police Chief Dan Wadsworth is in the middle of an investigation and no charges have been filed yet. As he understands it, several of his men drove by the scene where they noticed some activity in the doorway of the lounge. Upon arriving at the bar, the police officers noticed that a man was on the floor, possibly being kicked. The police officers attempted to push through the crowd surrounding the man so they could help him up. It was then when one of the Pheasant Lounge patrons slugged Hughes, Wadsworth said.

"They tried to help someone off the ground. That's when it happened," he said.

Wadsworth said the officers where out of uniform because they were on duty, looking for minors who might be soliciting adults to buy alcohol for them. The plain clothes cops were the only ones available to respond to the incident because other Ronan police officers were tied up at other calls. More Ronan, Tribal officers and Sheriff's deputies eventually arrived at the scene in uniform.

There is some controversy surrounding the ensuing investigation. Rodney Smart, owner of the Second Chance Saloon, which is right next door to the Pheasant Lounge, stated at the meeting that it was unnecessary for investigators to get a search warrant requesting a surveillance video from his bar.

"I said 'no' because nothing happened in my bar," he said. "You don't go showing videos when there is no reason for it."

He explained that his surveillance videos are not for public viewing.

"It's bad for business," he said.

Investigators requested the video because it was rumored that the man who assaulted Hughes went next door to the Last Chance Saloon immediately after the incident. They wanted the video so they could identify the person.

At this point, nothing official is known and everything said is hearsay except for statements from the officers on the scene, Wadsworth said.

"When we are all done with the investigation, we'll know exactly what happened," he said.