LAFAYETTE, IN — Lafayette police took over the investigation into Sunday’s brawl on the bridge and have not yet made any arrests or provided any updates.
The apparent victim, a 22-year-old Lafayette man, shared three videos from that fight, but he does not have ownership of the videos. The Journal & Courier cannot republish the recordings — heavily viewed on local social media channels — without permission without violating copyrights.
The alleged victim was walking on the bridge with an acquaintance about 4:50 a.m. Sunday and came across a group of young Black men and women, according to West Lafayette police, who took the initial report believing the attack happened on the west side of the bridge.
West Lafayette police turned the case over to Lafayette police after learning it was in their jurisdiction.
A woman in the crowd said something to him, and he said something in return, West Lafayette police said, noting that the alleged victim told officers whatever he said was not racial.
In one of the videos provided by the man, he is seen being pushed away from the crowd of nearly a dozen people by another white person.
The alleged victim, whom the J&C is not naming, is heard on the video he provided as saying, “You’ll knock me out? I’ll knock all of them out. You know I f—ing could. I f—ing could,” as the other white man keeps pushing him away from the crowd.
The person making the video appears to be a woman. “This drunk white boy,” she says as she records.
After the alleged victim breaks free from the man trying to push him away from the crowd, the scene resembles a donnybrook. Everyone — the alleged victim, the women in the crowd and the men in the crowd — throw punches at one another, focusing on the alleged victim.
“Stop, y’all,” the woman recording said. “Let’s go. We got to go.”
A man in the group can be overheard saying, “Drunk-ass white boy.”
The men in the group throw volleys of punches, knock the alleged victim to the ground, punch and kick him, and one person stomps on his head several times, according to the video.
The alleged victim told the Journal & Courier he wants to wait until arrests are made before speaking about the attack.
On Tuesday, he was interviewed by police and then went to the hospital for a second time to be checked out, he said.
He said he does not know who recorded the attack and said the recordings were posted to social media under aliases.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette man beaten in bridge brawl shares video of injuries
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier | USA TODAY Network
