Police investigate assaults at two bars on South Side

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

City police are investigating assaults at two area bars that sent two men to the hospital for minor treatment.

Officers were sent to the Coconut Grove bar in the 3200 block of South Avenue just before 10 p.m. Monday about a fight inside the bar.

According to police, a 50-year-old South Side man was sitting at the bar area inside the establishment when he heard a man behind him say something.

The 50-year-old told police he turned around to see what was said, and a man punched him in the face with his fist.

A bartender at the business told police the victim and the reported assailant were discussing money owed to the assailant before the punch was thrown. The bartender also said there are surveillance cameras inside the business.

The man who is believed to have thrown the punch left the bar before police arrived. Officers, however, do have a description of him.

The victim had a small cut to the right side of his lip and was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for the injury.

Police continue looking for suspects in the beating of a man at the Utopia Bar in the 800 block of Midlothian Boulevard at 1:45 a.m. Sunday.

According to police, the 38-year-old Boardman man said he is having problems with his 27-year-old former girlfriend and crossed paths with the woman at the bar. The two argued at the bar, and the man said he was assaulted by a group of three women and one man.

Police said the man had two black eyes and was treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center’s Boardman campus.