Edinburgh police are investigating a Tuesday night bar fight after a witness told police they saw a knife during the scuffle.
The fight at the Knue Tasty Shop Tavern involved several individuals, but only one has been arrested. Walter J. Kempisty Jr., 41, of Edinburgh, was arrested on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, battery and public intoxication.
Police did not locate a knife at the scene and those directly involved in the fight told police they did not see a knife or did not remember enough about the incident to know for sure, said Doyne Little, police chief.
Right now, police believe the lacerations sustained by those involved in the fight may have stemmed from broken beer bottles, Little said. However, the investigation is ongoing as police are awaiting surveillance footage from the bar to verify witness reports, he said.
“We think it is going to be just cuts from the bottles, but we need to look at the tape,” Little said. “We want to make sure what everyone is telling us is correct.”
Other individuals may be arrested on similar charges, or charges could be elevated depending on what surveillance footage shows, Little said.
Several witnesses told police Kempisty, who was at the bar with his girlfriend, tried to instigate fights with two different men in the bar, according to an Edinburgh Police Department report.
The bartender on duty attempted to settle Kempisty down by shutting off the lights and asking everyone to leave the bar, according to the report.
Eventually, Kempisty and another man came to blows, and a third man hit Kempisty with a beer bottle during the fight. The bartender and several others tried to stop the fight, but were pushed away, the report said.
Three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the fight, the according to the report. Those injured were Kempisty, the man he was fighting and a woman who was on the ground nearby when the fight started, the report said.
Kempisty was treated for a torso laceration at Johnson Memorial Health before he was taken to the Johnson County jail, where he is being held on $4,000 bond.
Another person sustained a facial injury and broken nose, possibly, but would not allow Edinburgh firefighters to treat him, according to the report.
And another sustained an arm laceration and was treated at the scene, the report said.
