Marines accused of attack on bartender in restroom

Two Marines stationed at the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport are suspected in an alleged assault on a bartender at Sam's Beach House Bar last weekend.

At about 9:05 p.m. Saturday, a Douglas County Sheriff's deputy responded to the bar on Elks Point Road. A bartender at the Beach House told a deputy that he was beaten after he made a second attempt to clean the restroom at the establishment, according to a deputy's report.

Five men from a group of 10 Marines at the bar blocked the door during the bartender's first attempt to clean the restroom and asked for a few minutes of privacy. The bartender agreed, then returned about 10 minutes later and asked the men to leave, according to the report.

The bartender said he then was punched, knocked to the ground and kicked by the men in the restroom. With the help of a patron, the bartender was able to escape and call 911, but the men allegedly left the scene before a deputy arrived.

A second employee at the bar said the bartender had angered two of the Marines by refusing to serve them alcohol because of their level of intoxication, according to the report.

On Sunday, the deputy contacted the five Marines who reportedly were in the restroom.

The Marines told the deputy that they were in the restroom to help a Marine who was remembering his friends killed in Iraq when the bartender forced his way into the restroom, hitting one of the Marines on the head with the door, and throwing punches at two of the Marines, according to the report.

The pair of Marines - a 22-year-old from Henderson, Nev., and a 19-year-old from Magnolia, Texas - said they were the only ones who punched the bartender.

The men said they punched the bartender in self-defense and denied ever kicking him, according to the report.

The case has been forwarded to the Douglas County District Attorney's office for possible prosecution.