Lawsuit filed by bouncer 2011 St. Charles bar fight
A bouncer at the Filling Station in St. Charles says he was kicked, beaten and strangled in late 2011 after he told two men to leave and has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $50,000 damages.
Jason T. Nord and Peter L. Currie, both 35 and from St. Charles, were originally charged with felony mob action and aggravated assault but pleaded guilty to misdemeanors in spring 2012 and received supervision, according to court records.
The suit argues that Nord and Currie pummeled Brett Willing, a “security officer” at the bar, 300 W. Main St., after Willing asked the two men to leave on Nov. 29, 2011 because Currie vomited into his drink.
The lawsuit argues that Nord “violently accosted” Willing and Currie jumped in and began to kick and punch him while he was on the ground and then began to strangle him.
The suit says Willing “was injured and caused to suffer great pain, incur large expenses for the necessary medical care and was disabled and unable to attend to his normal affairs for an extended amount of time,” attorney John Schroeder wrote in the lawsuit.
Schroeder did not return a phone message seeking comment.
Defense attorney Scott Kent, who represented Nord in the bar fight case but not the civil case, said a surveillance tape from the bar shows that Willing grabbed Nord first.
“There was a video of it. The bouncer had approached (Nord) first, grabbed hold of him. A scuffle ensured,” Kent said. “It certainly didn’t look terrible, which is why I imagine the state reduced the charges to a misdemeanor. The state amended the charges down based on the review of the evidence.”
According to court records, Nord, of the 300 block of North Fifth Street, was sentenced to 18 months of conditional discharge, which is a form of probation, ordered to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet for 100 days and told to perform 100 hours of community service.
Currie, of the 36W0-99 block of Rivergrange Road, also received 18 months of conditional discharge and ordered to complete 12 hours of community service.
The parties are due in court Sept. 5 and Willing has demanded a jury trial.