Local bar faces pair of lawsuits

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GREENFIELD — Two Shelby County men have filed lawsuits against a local bar, saying waiters there served an excessive amount of alcohol to three men who instigated a violent fight.

Ro’s Bar & Grill, 1514 N. State St., took “insufficient steps to protect patrons … from unprovoked attacks by fellow patrons,” claim Wayne and Elijah Brown, a father and son who say they were attacked at the bar in April 2016 by three drunk men, according to court documents.

They say Ro’s is as responsible as their attackers for what occurred on the night of the fight because staffers at the bar did not stop serving alcohol to the three attackers, even after they were visibly intoxicated — a claim that’s landed servers from Ro’s Bar & Grill into trouble with police before.

Last year, the bar was investigated and one of its servers charged criminally after being accused of over-serving alcohol to three men — two of whom died in a car accident after driving away from the establishment.

The server involved eventually pleaded guilty, and Ro’s faced a citation as a result.

The fight the Browns say they were involved in would have occurred a year before that crash. Both Browns were briefly hospitalized and needed surgery, according to police reports about the incident.

Last week, Wayne and Elijah Brown — who are both represented by Shelbyville attorney Jack Tandy — filed separate but similar lawsuits against the bar, asking a judge to award them each an unspecified amount of money to cover medical bills, loss of employment and pain and suffering.

Both suits also name the Greenfield men the Browns say assaulted them.

Kevin Hankins, 28, and Wyatt Evans, 24, each faced a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct in connection to the fight. Both have since admitted to the allegations. Hankins served time in jail as a result, while Evans entered into a diversion program, records show.

A third man, Richard Anderson of Hancock County, is also named in the lawsuit as having been allegedly involved in the fight; but he was not charged criminally, records show.

Elijah Brown was also charged with disorderly conduct, admitted to the offense and entered into a diversion program, records show. Wayne Brown was not charged.

Wayne and Elijah Brown say they were at Ro’s on April 17, 2016, when they were jumped by three of their fellow patrons – Hankins, Evans and Anderson, according to court documents.

They say their attackers were drunk, and the staff at Ro’s made no attempts to cut them off. The lawsuit also states that the bar “encouraged a climate where unprovoked assaults were common.”

Police reports reflect some of the Browns’ claims; but they do not reveal whether Ro’s was under investigation at the time of the incident.

Surveillance footage showed Wayne Brown being tackled and hit by three other bar patrons on April 17, 2016, according to police reports. Elijah Brown joined the fray moments later, kicking and punching the men who attacked his father, reports state.

Wayne Brown needed surgery to correct a broken ankle, and Elijah Brown needed surgery for a broken hand, according to police.

Richalle Turner, the owner of Ro’s Bar & Grill, declined to comment for this story.

Her establishment made headlines last year after the deaths of Scott Wynn, 55, of Greenfield, and Mitchell Wadley, 22, of Fortville.

The men were celebrating a friend’s birthday at Ro’s in April 2017. Minutes after leaving the bar, Wynn — who toxicology reports later showed was legally drunk and had marijuana in his system when he got behind the wheel — missed a curve on County Road 300N.

Wynn was killed instantly; Wadley, whose blood-alcohol level registered .28 percent, was flown to an Indianapolis hospital, where he died the next day, court records state.

The bar was cited on preliminary non-criminal charges of selling to intoxicated persons, lacking employee permit records and failing to meet server training requirements.

The server who waited on Wynn and Wadley — Anthony Helsley, 22, of Greenfield — pleaded guilty to selling alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons, a Class B misdemeanor. He’s currently serving time on probation.