INDIANAPOLIS – One man is facing charges while another lies in an ICU bed after a fight outside a south side bar took a life-threatening turn Saturday. Witnesses told police a security guard stomped on a man’s head after having already knocked him unconscious.
“We’re living in a nightmare, to say the least,” said Kaleigh Fainter.
It’s a nightmare, David Risley’s family says will only end when he wakes up.
“He’s still in a coma fighting for his life in the ICU,” Fainter, Risley’s girlfriend, said. “It’s been really, really rough.”
Court documents say witnesses identified 37-year-old Terence Lambert as the involved security guard. They described Risley falling “face first” onto the parking lot outside That Place Bar & Grill, some saying they heard him “snoring” before Lambert then stomped on his head, causing a brain bleed.
“We have zero tolerance for putting your hands on anybody unless you are in self-defense or you have no other choice,” said Scott Coyle, owner of That Place Bar & Grill. “In no way, shape or form am I saying, though, that the violence should’ve gotten to the point where anybody’s in the hospital.”
Coyle told FOX59/CBS4 Lambert had been working there for about a month and the bar had no prior issues with him.
Coyle believes nothing leading up to the fight justified how it ended, though the accounts of his staff members differ from those in Risley’s group regarding who put their hands on whom first.
“He was pushed, I was hit in the face, my glasses were thrown on the ground by a man,” Fainter said. “He ultimately went back to see why that happened the way it did.”
Fainter recalls a woman “antagonizing” her and Risley’s sister in the bar, saying things got physical with security staff on their way out when that woman “attacked” them. It wasn’t until Risley came back with two friends that those friends said he and Lambert got into a yelling match outside, punches were thrown, Risley hit the pavement and Lambert stomped.
“This was a really traumatic event for all of the staff that were working that night,” Coyle said. “We thought maybe the building was going to be shot up. We didn’t know what was going to happen when David returned.”
Fainter believes David returned to find out why the initial scuffle occurred, saying he didn’t intend to spark any more violence.
“Nobody knows what really happened. All they have is speculation,” Fainter said. “All they have is he said, she said. The video footage is what’s going to show the truth.”
One thing everyone involved agrees on – is rumors on social media are only causing more problems.
“It’s just been very confusing, hard to understand what’s going on,” said Cameron Greene, Risley’s niece. “Meanwhile trying to deal with things being said. We just really need the support and love.”
Fainter added that they also want justice for Risley – a father of two.
“David is a family man,” Fainter said. “No matter what led up to the ending, David didn’t deserve this. Nobody deserves that.”
Coyle said his bar is fully cooperating with IMPD’s investigation, and he’s handed over all security video from that night and contact information for every staff member. Upon being asked about customer safety concerns moving forward, he said he’ll ensure security guards are as “kind and polite” as can be and “do their jobs to their maximum ability.” Coyle also said he wants to dispel any misconceptions that security maliciously sought to pick a fight and attack a patron.
“There’s a lot of information going on online and we need to let the courts make the decision in this,” Coyle said.
FOX59/CBS4 crews asked Coyle if he had a message for Risley’s family.
“I would say I’m praying for a full recovery for David,” Coyle responded.
According to online court records, Terence Lambert has been charged with aggravated battery posing a substantial risk of death, a level three felony. At the time of this article’s publication, records show an active warrant for Lambert.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
