3 men beaten unconscious in alley near bar
This was no run-of-the-mill bar fight.
In fact, it was outside a bar, and some say it was more of an ambush than a fight.
Whatever it was it ended with three men lying unconscious and bleeding in a well-lit alley about two blocks from the Davenport police station — behind the public library.
Six days after the violent encounter behind Boozie’s, 114 W. 3rd St., a 21-year-old Wilton, Iowa, man was released from Genesis Medical Center-East Rusholme Street, Davenport, where he underwent surgery earlier in the week for massive facial injuries — the result of being kicked in the face repeatedly after being knocked unconscious.
The man has asked that his name be withheld. He fears his attackers will find him.
He was one in a group of six young men from Wilton who traveled to Davenport last Friday for the downtown bar scene. According to their account, they were “ambushed” by a much larger group as they headed to their car about 2 a.m. Saturday.
A second man in the group from Wilton was stabbed, they said, which police have confirmed. He was released from the hospital over the weekend. The third man did not require hospitalization.
Details from police are lean, largely because the case is still under investigation, Sgt. Greg Glandon said.
What police are saying is: No knife was recovered. The incident apparently started with the larger group randomly challenging people to fight as they left downtown bars. The Wilton men were not part of the group challenging others to fight.
“From different people, there are different stories,” Glandon said. “We are trying to get all the information together. It is being actively worked on.”
But the mother of the most seriously injured man wonders how police can be thorough when they haven’t even questioned her son. It was not until Thursday morning — six days after the attack — that police made contact.
“They took pictures of him in the emergency room that morning, but they haven’t questioned him,” she said. “They had no further contact until (Thursday), and I started calling them Monday.
“He doesn’t have a memory of it, because he believes he was hit from behind and then beaten while he was on the ground. But I would think the police would want to see his injuries.”
The list of injuries is long: A facial fracture at the left eye; a fractured cheek bone; crushed and broken portions of the sinus; a broken nose; stitches in the chin; an open wound above the left eye; missing teeth.
“When I was called to the emergency room, he was unrecognizable,” the man’s mother said. “His face was so distorted. I asked the others from his group if he was screaming and they said, ‘No. He was completely out. They just kept kicking him.’
“I think my first reaction was just being thankful he was alive. I try not to dwell on it and focus on taking care of him because thinking about it makes me sick. How could people do this to other people?”
During those long days and nights in the hospital, family members said they heard stories from hospital staff of other patients who have been beaten during attacks in Davenport.
An employee at Boozie’s said if fights are occurring downtown, they aren’t happening behind the bar and restaurant where he works.
“I’ve been here 13 years, and I’ve never heard of anything else like this happening,” Greg Poterack said. “As far as out back, in general, walking there is never a problem.
“This was a case of somebody being at the wrong place at the wrong time, it sounds like.”
The injured man’s mother said the incident has left a collection of small-town men feeling differently about going to the much larger city of Davenport for fun.
“When people question why you’d want to live in a small town — this is why,” she said. “A lot of people are really angry about what happened.
“There was no part of these men that told them to stop. My son saw somebody coming at him and then woke up in a hospital room, and the in-between stuff is just gone.
“I hope it never comes back.”
The injuries
A 21-year-old Wilton, Iowa, man was knocked unconscious and kicked repeatedly in the face and head while walking in an alley in downtown Davenport a week ago. He suffered the following injuries:
Fractures to the bones surrounding his left eye
A fractured cheek bone
Broken and crushed portions of the sinus
A broken nose
A damaged eye socket
A gash to the chin, requiring stitches
An open wound above the left eye, which doctors were unable to close
Missing teeth
Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com.