Crime & Safety

Police Blotter: Huge Fight Erupts at Hamilton Room, Pair Accuses Security Guards of Assault

Fight inside downtown Birmingham nightclub spills onto sidewalk, one man arrested for disorderly conduct.

Birmingham police detectives are investigating claims that security guards assaulted two people at the in the midst of a large-scale brawl around closing time early Sunday morning.

A man and woman went to the Monday morning, claiming they had been assaulted while at the Hamilton Room the night before. According to police reports, the man said he was in the bar area when someone threw a glass. Several people in the bar area then started yelling and pushing.

The man told police that a security guard then grabbed him and put him in what he described as a “choke hold,” causing him to almost pass out. The security guard began to escort him out of the building, still in the choke hold, the man said. The woman — the man’s friend — said she tried to intervene but was struck in the face by a security guard’s elbow. Once outside, the man said the security guard hit him in the face two to three times, and threw him to the ground.

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Meanwhile, the fight that had erupted inside the bar moved outside to the sidewalk as Hamilton Room staff closed up for the night. When police officers from Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills arrived, there were close to 100 people on the sidewalk in front of the Hamilton Room and , yelling and jostling each other while a few people fought, according to the police report. The man who claimed to have been assaulted by the security guard was separated from the group, Birmingham Police Cmdr. Terry Kiernan said, and left the scene with his friends.

While officers worked to disperse the crowd, one man continued to act aggressive, holding up his fists in a fighting position, yelling “Come on! Come on!" reports say. The officers tried to calm him down, but he continued to threaten the officers and people in the area, even after police told him he was under arrest for disorderly conduct. When the man tried to resist the arresting officer, police told him they would use the taser gun on him if he didn’t calm down. Police had to point the taser at him, reports say, before he stopped fighting and was taken in to custody.

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Photographs of the man and woman's injuries were taken at the police station Monday morning and detectives are investigating both cases.

If you have any tips, contact the Birmingham Police Department at 248-530-1889.


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