Three UW-Madison students sustained injuries during a late-night altercation on State Street this weekend.
Stephen J. Harris, 25, said he, his brother Romus, 24, and another individual were leaving Spices Kitchen, 117 State St., when five to 10 white males started “giving them sh*t” and throwing punches at them.
However, the younger brother claimed he was never in the bar and had been walking on State Street for almost two hours to “meet all the females,” according to police reports.
Madison police report Jeremy H. Pettus, 19, Matthew D. Saric, 21, Travis Ties, 20, — all UW students who reside in the Langdon Street neighborhood — and Alex R. Seeley, 21, of Minnesota, encountered the Harris brothers outside Spices early Saturday morning.
Witness Nathan D. Swanson, 21, reported that the Harris brothers contacted some of his friends outside the bar. He claimed one of the brothers swung at Ties and proceeded to punch and kick Pettus, Seeley and Seric.
Ties told Madison Police Department officer Jesse Harman the altercation was most likely racial in nature. He claims Pettus, a white male, said, “It’s okay, brother,” to one of the Harrises, a black male, who then replied, “Don’t call me brother.”
According to reports, police found Pettus unconscious at the scene at about 2:17 a.m. He was later transported to Meriter Hospital, where he received stitches for a one-inch laceration on his left temple. He reported not remembering what happened.
Saric and Ties sustained chipped teeth. Seeley sustained a bruise to the forehead and a scrape on his left ear and was “extremely intoxicated and was unable to remember much of what happened,” according to the report.
Also that night, officers responded to a report that a window at Ragstock, 327 State St., was smashed.
According to police, a passerby indicated a male subject was pushed into the window. No witness statements or suspect information was available. The police report said the male who was pushed was wearing a dark jersey with the number 21 on it.
“It appeared the person who was pushed may have fell through the window and into the store,” the statement read. The store window sustained approximately $600 in damage.
