A 24-year-old University student who police say ran into Taylor’s Bar and Grille and threw a potato-sized rock at the liquor bottles behind the bar, causing $500 in damage, has been arrested and taken to Lane County jail, police said.
Austin Michael Hauth, an undergraduate political science major, was arrested by three Eugene police officers on East 15th Avenue between Kincaid and Alder streets at about 3 p.m. Tuesday. He was charged with criminal mischief I, a felony, reckless endangering, interfering with police and disorderly conduct.
Multiple people recognized the man from a surveillance camera image published in the Emerald on Tuesday and called police, Eugene Police Department spokeswoman Kerry Delf said. Delf said the initial investigation by EPD officer Tom Schulke showed that Hauth may have previously had a run-in with the bar staff, but Justin Walker, the general manager at Taylor’s, said none of the Taylor’s staff members recognized the man.
None of the people who recognized Hauth wanted their names or identities revealed, Delf said.
Walker previously said the bar was offering a reward for anybody with information leading to the suspect’s arrest. He said on Tuesday night the bar is still finalizing details of the reward but he couldn’t comment further on it.
On Tuesday police initially talked to Hauth near East 16th Avenue and Alder Street, but when they tried to stop him, he kept walking away, resulting in the charge of interfering with police, Delf said. Police didn’t have to use physical force to stop him, she said.
At about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, a man entered Taylor’s and from near the doorway threw a rock behind the bar, breaking more than a dozen alcohol bottles and damaging a mirror, Walker previously told the Emerald. Over a period of five minutes, the man had entered and left the bar to scan the street several times, before entering a third time and throwing the rock, Walker said.
After hearing a crash, a Taylor’s chef and a customer chased the man eight blocks, to the intersection of Patterson Street and East 18th Avenue, before they lost him. Bail and a release date have not yet been set for Hauth, according to the county jail. Hauth is scheduled to be arraigned today.
Walker said the bar intends to press charges.