Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle and local bartenders said bar fights are infrequent, but when they do happen, arrests are rarely made.
“A lot of the fights that are called in these days are over before we get there,” Pyle said.
When officers roll up to a bar when a fight is still going on, they will try to break it up, Pyle said.
“It’s just a cultural thing, too,” Pyle said. “It’s our culture to break it up and not charge. … It does happen but it’s infrequent.”
If a fight persists, Pyle and his team cite the individuals with disorderly fighting. If they refuse to stop after an officer warns them to cease and desist, the citation elevates to a fourth-degree misdemeanor and could lead to a little jail time for the brawlers, Pyle said.
A fourth-degree misdemeanor could land someone in jail for up to 30 days, according to Ohio law.
Before fights escalate to the point where APD is called, employees try to break up the fight. For employees that are women, it might be a little more difficult, Ginocchio, a junior studying international business, said.
“Sometimes, as a girl, it’s a little more difficult because sometimes if they’re in a fight, it’s a little dangerous,” Ginocchio said.
Ginocchio added that employees that are women sometimes try to break up fights if they can, but are encouraged to find a male employee to break it up.
“(Managers are) mostly concerned about our safety,” Ginocchio said.
One night, Ginocchio didn’t have time to find someone to break up a fight at the C.I. at 32 N. Court St. About a month ago, a male walked out of the bar's bathroom and told her a group of guys were about to start fighting.
“I said, 'Screw it. I don’t have time to find someone on the floor,' ” Ginocchio said.
She barged into the bathroom and started yelling, which ceased all chatter and tension in the bathroom.
“When a girl barges into a guys bathroom, (the fighting) kind of stops,” Ginocchio said.
When fights persist in the bar, and employee safety is in jeopardy, it's time to call APD, Alexis Ristaino, another C.I. employee, said.
“If you hit an employee, we’ll probably call the cops on you just because that means you’re so drunk you don’t know what you’re doing,” Ristaino, a senior studying business and finance, said.
Most weekends don’t involve too many bar fights, Ristaino said. When Ristaino does see fights, it’s usually during a fest weekend, she added. During Mill Fest weekend this year, three fights occurred at the C.I., while a normal weekend for the bar could have no fights or just one.
The rowdiest fights happen during fest weekends, or when out-of-town individuals go to the bar, Ristaino said. OU students "know better" than to start fights, she added.
“A regular weekend, we don’t really have to deal with it,” Ristaino said.
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