Five arrested in weekend bar brawl

Five people were arrested last Saturday night after a fight broke out at The Beach House on West Beech Street. The brawl occurred after hundreds of dollars in cash allegedly went missing from the bar, police said.

Police responded to the incident at about 12:30 a.m., a time when Police Commissioner Mike Tangney said that there was already a sizeable police presence in the West End due to the city’s annual Irish Day festivities earlier that day.

According to Tangney, a Beach House bartender told a manager that they had left hundreds of dollars on the bar and claimed that one of the patrons had stolen it. After reviewing video surveillance tapes, bar employees confronted a person that they suspected of stealing the money, Tangney said, and a fight ensued during the accusations among some patrons.

“They were all fighting and got arrested because they refused to stop,” Tangney said. “Once the hostility raised over the money issue, people that were prone to violence were incited to fight.”

After viewing the tapes, however, Long Beach police later determined that the person employees had suspected did not steal the money. Tangney added that it was not immediately clear if the patrons involved in the brawl were connected to the missing money.

Four Nassau County police units and a sergeant also responded at the Long Beach Police Department’s request, though Tangney said the incident had already been wrapped up by the time they arrived. Additional Long Beach police officers were stationed nearby at other bars, though Tangney said he called for backup so his officers could continue monitoring the neighborhood for other potential disturbances.

“We didn’t want to abandon all the other bars for the same reason, so we called in the county,” he said. “We didn’t want to take any chances.”

Long Beach residents Dashawn Evans, Rondaye Sutton-Evans, Chester Posey and Timothy Lyons, along with Lerry Crawford of Freeport, were all arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Lyons was also charged with obstructing governmental administration.

A manager at Beach House could not be reached for comment and a call was not returned. Tangney said the investigation is ongoing but police do not yet have a suspect.

There were no DWI arrests made during or after the festival, Tangney said, but police charged several individuals with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest throughout the day. Including the five involved in the bar fight, 11 individuals were arrested that day.