WINONA, Minn. – A drunken patron was thrown out of the Market Street Tap, a popular downtown bar, after swinging a bar stool at another customer. Undeterred, the guy came back in and picked another bar stool. The bartender escorted him out second time. In the process, the man fell backwards anf hit his head. Two hours later he was back. This time the bartender called police. Nobody at the bar wanted to share much of the details with officers – not even the first assault victim, who suffered arm injury. Even so, police figured out the assailant was a 61-year-old man who was still hanging around. But not having witnessed the assaults and with the recalcitrance of people who were there, the officers decided not to make an arrest. Instead they handed out “statement forms” to everyone to write up what they saw. The forms are due back in five days. Police said the forms could be the basis for assault charges. The man who police said was the common denominator in all the incidents was issued an order, valid for a year, to stay out of the establishment.
Busy night on Market Street. Off Third Street in the downtown bar district. Bursting with revelry on a Steamboat Days weeknight.