Talk of the Town

Here is the Indy Star story from this morning's paper on the 8 Seconds Saloon situation. The disgusted fan reaction is covered. We also learn that the bar manager invovled, Mark Nicholson, is described by a colleague as an "easy, quiet guy -- not one of those guys who goes looking for a fight." Of course, the 8 Seconds/Tremors combo has had about 40 police calls in the past 12 months. Who would ever think that a combo country bar/hip hop club could create problems?Other items:

• The bar doesn't have video of the incident. Seems strange that a big club like that wouldn't have video covering the whole patron area.
• The whole thing started with a guy trying to steal fur coats from the coat check room which, by the way, creates comical visuals. Somehow this guy wasn't caught. Anyway, this is how the Pacers' are described to have become involved.

  "Some words were exchanged" between bar management and the Pacers, Scheffel said. Nicholson told police that "Mr. Tinsley, with a closed fist, struck him on the left side of the head, knocking him to his knees. He stated at that time Mr. Daniels and Mr. King also began to use closed fists, striking him in the face. He stated he was unable to defend himself."
  Two unidentified witnesses "felt that (Nicholson's) life was in danger," according to the police report, and they helped pull Tinsley and Daniels from him. The report noted that the manager "had a severed earlobe and that his jaw appeared to be fractured."

• The Marion County prosecutor's investigations is in full swing.

  The investigation, originally assigned to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department detectives, was joined late Wednesday by the Marion County grand jury, a division of the Marion County prosecutor's office. Citing grand jury secrecy laws, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi would not say why the grand jury was involved. He noted that unlike police investigators, "the grand jury has the ability to issue subpoenas and compel sworn testimony from all of the witnesses."

• Keith McCleod's cousin Jeremy King lost a tooth so at least one person in the Pacers' group was involved in a physical altercation. King is alleged to have joined Tinsley and Daniels in pounding on Nicholson.
• With the grand jury involved this story will have plenty of legs and more updates to come.