Bar fight spurs $2.5 million suit
Staff writer
Michael Sigel of Marion and Chasen Gann of Hillsboro are being sued for $2.5 million over injuries suffered by a Cottonwood Falls man in a Dec. 8 fight at Doghouse Saloon in Cottonwood Falls.
Larry Pinkston was taken by ambulance to Newman Regional Health in Emporia after Chase County Sheriff Jacob Welsh pulled Sigel, 52, off him at the bar.
When deputies arrived at the bar, Pinkston already was in the back of an ambulance, covering his eye, which was blackened and swollen shut. His face was bloody from lacerations, and his mouth was full of blood.
According to Pinkston’s petition, Gann attacked him first, “without provocation or warning.” Sigel then joined in the attack, Pinkston claims.
Pinkston claims he suffered severe and permanent injuries, pain, suffering, mental anguish, loss of time, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses, economic loss, permanent disfigurement, and permanent disability.
Four days after the bar fight, Sigel was charged in Chase County District Court with aggravated battery and obstruction of apprehension.
Sigel’s obstruction charge was for leaving the bar with Gann, 38, Hillsboro.
Gann was charged with aggravated battery and interference with law enforcement. The interference charge was for leaving the bar with Sigel.
Both criminal cases remain pending, with Sigel scheduled for trial Nov. 20.
Pinkston had been leaving a restroom when he and a man in a black cowboy hat with a beard and brown eyes met in the doorway, he told deputies.
Pinkston said, “Excuse me” in German, walked past the man, and returned to the bar, he told deputies. The black-hatted man then approached and punched him in the face and punched him after he fell to the floor.
One day after the fight, Gann turned himself in to Marion County sheriff’s deputies and admitted punching Pinkston in the face.
Gann told the deputy he had left the scene with Sigel and Jarrod W. Williams, 37.
No charges stemming from the fight were filed against Williams.