One University student was arrested early yesterday morning after a fight broke out in front of Taylor’s Bar & Grille, drawing roughly 100 spectators and resulting in three total arrests.
University student and journalism major Lydia Edmunds Webb, 23, was arrested while leaving the incident.
Melinda Kletzok, public information director for the Eugene Police Department, said a crowd of around 100 people gathered outside the bar where five people were fighting, and the crowd began chanting when police arrived. The crowd ignored police orders to disperse until two men, Michael Clifford Corey, 22, and Jacob Alan Beck, 21, were arrested, along with Webb.
Around 2 a.m. Sunday, EPD officers responded to a call involving the fight in front of Taylor’s and were met with a large and disorderly crowd.
“As the crowd continued to escalate in activity and intensity,” Springfield police were called in to assist EPD, Kletzok said.
Webb’s roommate, Vanessa Ward, said she saw a fight break out between two men on the outside deck of Taylor’s. Ward said she has been to Taylor’s many times when the bar has closed and kicked everyone out. She said people usually linger as they figure out how to get home.
After discussing with her friends whether to try to get a cab, Webb decided to use the ASUO Designated Driver Shuttle for a ride home. As the friends walked to the DDS van, police began shouting at them.
“It’s really hard to actually portray the tone and the way (the officers) were yelling at us,” Ward said. “It’s not like we did something wrong.”
As the women went to climb into the DDS van, Webb said an officer pushed her toward the van and she told him it was rude. The officer responded by telling Webb if she spoke again she would be arrested.
“I turned around and I was like, ‘Really?’” Webb said. That was when the officer handcuffed her.
Ward said she was already in the van when the officer handcuffed Webb and shut the van door.
“I was not even a part of this riot and I was an inch away from the van door,” Webb said. Webb was charged with one count of harassment and one count of disorderly conduct. She spent the night and jail and was released on $500 bond Sunday afternoon.
“He accused me of pushing him,” Webb said. “I have never felt that violated in my whole life. I felt like there was nothing I could do about it.”
Ward and Webb said bartenders at Taylor’s saw the incident and apologized for the way she was treated.
Webb said, “They just treated me like I was dirt.”
“It was really weird and shocking to see my friend be handcuffed while she’s trying to go home,” Ward said. “They set you up to be arrested. What normal human being is not going to react when someone pushes you?”
After the crowd dispersed and most of the officers had left, a bicyclist was struck by a vehicle in the same area. Witnesses said a vehicle leaving Taylor’s failed to stop at a stop sign and knocked the female bicyclist over.
The driver got out of the vehicle and then drove off, traveling westbound on 14th Avenue, disobeying stop signs and speeding. Witnesses described the vehicle as a newer, dark-green or black compact Jeep station wagon. The bicyclist reported having minor injuries and declined medical attention.
Anyone with information about the incident should call the EPD non-emergency hotline at (541) 682-5111.