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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

LGBT So these are the two (hot) guys who started the fight at Blake's

Posted by Bobby Feingold @senorbobby on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 11:51 AM

APD
Blake's brawlers Vance Johnson and Derrick Leegrant

Earlier this week I asked what the hell is going on at Blake's, the popular Midtown gay bar, after a late-night brawl sent two people to jail and left a tidal wave of conflicting reports. Now the official police report has been released on the men who started the fight, and yeah, I would.

Vance Johnson (left) and Derrick Leegrant, both 22, reportedly started the fight while waiting in line for the bathroom at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to Project Q. The manager of Blake's asked 69-year-old retired Atlanta police office J.J. O'Brien, who works security at the bar, to remove the two men. That's when things got ugly.

“Mr. Johnson refused [to leave the bar, according to O'Brien's report] and Officer O’Brien told him again to leave and Mr. Johnson refused and threw his drink in Officer O’Brien’s face. Officer O’Brien told Mr. Johnson he was under arrest and attempted to handcuff him.”

... “Mr. Johnson hit Officer O’Brien in the face knocking his eyeglasses on the floor. Officer O’Brien took Mr. Johnson to the floor as he was hitting Officer O’Brien and attempting to escape,” O’Brien writes.

“Officer O’Brien felt someone jump on his back and turned his head around and saw Mr. Leegrant on his back hitting Officer O’Brien with his fists. Several of Blake’s employees and customers jumped in to help Officer O’Brien. Officer O’Brien finally got Mr. Johnson handcuffed and was escorting him down the ramp when Mr. Leegrant tried to run and a customer attempted to grab him. Mr. Leegrant ran into a customer car doing damage to left side of car. Officer O’Brien called for additional cars to help him secure scene,” he writes in the report.

I picture Rihanna's "We Found Love" blasting while the melee went down. Both men face charges of simple battery and felony obstruction. Vance was released on $5,000 bond, and Leegrant is still in Fulton County Jail with two additional charges of criminal damage to property.

An anonymous witness originally claimed wrong-doing by Atlanta police, but six other witnesses, including three Blake's employees, said there was no police misconduct. So is it just me, or do you think Vance and Leegrant could make Hot and Busted?

Tags: Blake's, Midtown, LGBT, gay, gay bar, crime, bar fights, Project Q, Vance Johnson, Derrick Leegrant, J.J. O'Brien