Wasilla city, borough politicians sue bar over fracas

WASILLA — A husband and wife team of local politicians has filed a $100,000 lawsuit against a local bar, alleging rough treatment from the bouncer on a night out last year.

The complaint was filed last month in Anchorage Superior Court on behalf of Leone Harris, a Wasilla City Council member and Mark Ewing, who serves on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly. The defendants in the suit are Tailgater’s Sports Bar & Grill, the bar’s bouncer, Joseph B. Hutchinson, its parent company, Kashim Inc., and Phillip Lundstrom.

Reached by phone Thursday, Lundstrom declined to comment except to say that he runs the restaurant side of Tailgaters, not the bar side.

“They have their own lease, I have my own lease,” Lundstrom said.

The man who runs the bar side, Ted Anderson, did not return a call seeking comment.

According to the complaint, Ewing and Harris were at the bar on Feb. 14, 2009.

“Shortly after Plaintiffs entered the premises, Defendant Hutchinson physically assaulted and battered Plaintiff Harris,” attorney Kenneth Norsworthy wrote in the complaint.

Ewing said Thursday that he couldn’t comment much except to say, “My wife has been injured. And one of the parties involved was informed of that and decided not to do anything.”

He said that in the unlikely event the assembly is faced with an issue regarding the bar he would excuse himself and, though he couldn’t speak for her, he imagined his wife would as well at council meetings.

According to a Wasilla Police Department report from the time, the initial call to respond to the bar came from Hutchinson at 11:44 p.m. The bouncer said a group that included some local politicians was refusing to leave the bar.

Officer Bill Rapson and Sgt. Jean Achee worked the case. Rapson writes that he met with Hutchinson, who said Harris, Ewing and their friends were going into the bar but one of the friends, Deborah Crump, didn’t have identification to show the bouncer.

Hutchinson said the Crumps were going to leave but that Harris got in his face, swore at him and told him, “he was going to lose his job.” He said Harris shoved a bartender and took a swing at her and that he, in response, grabbed her and took her outside. In the police report, Hutchinson said the group went to the Mug-Shot, were denied entry, and left in a cab.

Rapson and Achee next went to Ewing’s house and got a much different account. Charles Crump said that when the bouncer wouldn’t let them in, he tried to tell him that everyone in the party was over 50 but the bouncer wouldn’t listen.

“Charles said that Hutchinson started to scream at him so he left,” Rapson wrote. “Harris denied any pushing or shoving and said she was manhandled out the door. Harris also said she was grabbed around the neck and thrown to the ground.”

Ewing backed her up, Rapson wrote, but the officers couldn’t see any signs on Harris’ neck or clothes that she had been grabbed or thrown to the ground.

In the end, the police forwarded a disorderly conduct charge to the district attorney and advised her that Tailgaters didn’t want her coming back. Court records show that no disorderly conduct charge was ever officially leveled against either Hutchinson or Harris, meaning the district attorney likely declined to take the case.

“We had no influence on the DA’s decision to throw that out,” Ewing said.

The report also contains a note that Harris later called to say she had suffered whiplash and was getting medical treatment for it. Rapson writes that Harris didn’t fill out the paperwork he needed to verify that.

The lawsuit says that as a result of the incident, Harris suffered “severe bodily injuries requiring past and ongoing medical treatment,” and resulting in a partial disability, loss of income and “loss of consortium damages to Plaintiff Mark Ewing.”

Ewing, when interviewed, declined to detail his wife’s injuries.

“I think the impact has been pretty severe and I think that will be pointed out later,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.