Sports

Bickerstaff arrested for assaulting bouncer

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Also by Morgan Felchner:

• Bickerstaff arrested for assaulting bouncer (July 25, 2001)

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UW-Madison football player Erik Bickerstaff was arrested Saturday night after assaulting a 22-year-old bouncer at Brother?s Tavern, 704 University Ave. Bickerstaff turned 21 Wednesday, July 25.

The disturbance began when Bickerstaff attempted to enter the popular college bar using a fake ID, the driver?s license of former UW football player and current Minnesota Viking Michael Bennett.

According to police reports, the bouncer recognized the ID as Bennett, denied admission to Bickerstaff and confiscated the ID.

Bickerstaff attempted several times to obtain the ID from the bouncer to no avail. Upset with the failure to regain possession of his fake ID he reached into the bouncer?s pocket to retrieve it.

The bouncer pushed Bickerstaff to the door, and in retaliation Bickerstaff punched the bouncer two or three times in the face causing a minor abrasion and swelling to the left corner of the mouth and to the left cheek. Next, Bickerstaff pushed the bouncer into a pole outside the bar and was finally restrained by two other bouncers.

Responding to the disturbance, Madison police officers apprehended Bickerstaff and charged him with battery and disorderly conduct.

For the UW football team, the latest arrest comes on the heal of a year filled with brush ins with the law. This spring, UW wide receiver Nick Davis plead guilty after stealing a $4,000 TV from a Madison Best Buy. Other incidents include the kicking in of a women?s apartment door by former player Michael Bennett, the 1999 brutal raping and beating of a UW female student by UW recruit Jael Speights, and the Shoebox scandal, in which dozens of UW athletes were given suspensions for accepting discounts at the Black Earth, Wis. shoe store.

Brother’s management and the UW athletic department refused to comment on the latest incident. Bickerstaff did not answer phone calls.