Calgary police have laid several assault charges against two patrons after a chef and a bartender were injured during a fight at a downtown bar earlier this month.
Richard McLaren, who is the chef at Shelter Cocktail Bar on 1str SW Street, says around 6:30 p.m. on May 15, bartenders noticed a man and woman walk in who may have been “too far to be served.”
“They came to me and said, ‘Hey just a heads up, we’re not going to serve these people, but in case anything happens, just be aware,'” says McLaren.
Paulina Arteaga was one of the bartenders working and was the manager that night.
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She says she had no problem when they advised the woman they were not serving her. It wasn’t until the woman told the man – who was out at the time – that everything went sideways.
“I was standing in a corner where I could see the doors, (and) she’s already talking to him,” says Arteaga, who described seeing the man waving his arms and visibly angry, “so I knew something was going to happen.”
McLaren says the man confronted Arteaga and after a brief conversation between her and the man, he punched her in the face.
“It went from him swearing at Paulina to him shaking the bar and, you know, hitting Paulina, so I immediately ran over (to) try to defuse the situation, like I really didn’t want to fight,” McLaren says.
McLaren suffered a hairline fracture to his jaw and needed several stitches in his mouth. He has been out of work ever since.
In a statement, police say they were called to the scene just before 7pm after receiving reports of an assault at the bar. They say officers arrested the woman upon arrival. The man, however, damaged the door of the bar and fled on foot.
Police say he then “attacked officers attempting to take him into custody” but was arrested.
He now faces charges of assault by strangulation, common assault, assault with intent to resist arrest and one count of misdemeanor assault, while she has been charged with assault.
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