Pepper spray used to disperse fighting groups outside coney island restaurant
Luca's Coney Island
Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com
A security guard used pepper spray to break up a fight at an Ypsilanti Township coney island restaurant early Saturday, but not before someone threw a plate and bottle, breaking a window at the business.
Deputies from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to Luca's Coney Island at 2469 Washtenaw Avenue, at 4:35 a.m. Saturday to investigate a report that a security guard may have been injured breaking up a fight between two large groups of men, police said.
The "disorderly parties" were gone by the time police arrived, according to a news release. The security guard was not injured, but pepper spray he used to disperse the crowd had irritated his eyes, said Sgt. Geoff Fox of the sheriff's office
A subsequent police investigation revealed that two large groups of males inside the restaurant began to "exchange words," according to the release. The security guards stepped in to break up the fight. One of the men threw a plate and bottle at security. The items missed but smashed a restaurant window.
The security guards got the two groups outside, but the men refused to leave, causing the security guards to use pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
The suspects are unknown at this time.
It was not the first time police had responded to a report of trouble at the restaurant.
Last year, the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees requested the 24-hour coney island shut down between the hours of 1:30 and 4 a.m. Monday mornings because police were getting too tied up there taking complaints of disorderly conduct, property damage, aggravated felonious assault, gambling, retail fraud and vagrancy. The restaurant complied -- and still does -- and now has two security guards on staff Thursday through Sunday night, according to a coney island employee.
"It doesn't seem to be as bad as it used to be," Fox said. "The security guards have done a good job of (stopping) things before they start."
John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
glimmertwin
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 8:49 a.m.
Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, swims like a duck. I have been reading about this dump far too many times with incidents like this. Declare it a nuisance and close it down. This place will never get a dime of my money.
J. Sorensen
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 7:37 a.m.
I work midnights and used to stop here regularly. The staff does it's best, but it's NOT drunks that are causing the troubles. It's mostly young people, a lot that come in from East of here. The difference between this and the othe 24hr places is the large parking lot, where they often "hang" with radios blaring. It's proximity to St Joe has made business worthwhile for night staff to get food, so it saddens me that gangs of young kids have decided to take it over as their own. Some of the waitstaff I've spoken to have told me about acts of complete disrespect (throwing food at them for kicks). I hope they can figure out a way to control them.
harry
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 4:59 p.m.
They should just have drive through. Block off the rest of the parking lot.
brian
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 3:33 a.m.
Wow, how funny, Lucas west of Golfside, Ypsilanti, St. Joe's Hospital East of Golfside Ann Arbor. Just saying.
tdw
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 11 a.m.
brian....not sure what you are saying.St.Joe's is east of of Golfside ( that is if Golfside crossed Clark and Huron River ).And it is not in Ann Arbor.It's in Superior Twp.It's listed as Ypsi or Ann Arbor.Their main offices are in Ann Arbor which is where the Ann Arbor address comes from.Just saying
Lovaduck
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 11:41 p.m.
Yes, back in the sixties the Dunkin' Donuts on Main Street in Ann Arbor used to be known as Drunken Donuts, and there were fights even there and in the Biff's restaurant across from St. Mary's Chapel near Tower Plaza. The mixture of late nights coming home from bars and places open if often not a good one. Too bad some insecure persons from Ann Arbor have to project all their bad impulses to the neighboring community starting with Y in order to feel superior and safe.
jns131
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 11:29 p.m.
This location is the hot spot for a lot of problems. This place was asked by the township to close by 2 in the morning and not reopen until after 8. Again they are going to be forced to do something else. I am not surprised to be reading this. Go figure a coney island is a hot spot for trouble.
Speedy Squirrel
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 11:24 p.m.
There is a very large apartment complex just down and across the street with some serious problems. You get a big concentration of drunks who all kind of know each other, with nothing to do, and who need a place to hang out, and you get this. Why not make a deal with this complex to evict anybody caught causing trouble at Lucas? They all disappear in the daytime. This location is as safe as anyplace otherwise. Why does the county sheriff let them get away with it all the time. A quick trip through the afore mentioned apartment complex at 4:00 AM would net 20 open container violations, and a some outstanding warrents as well.
oldguy
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 8:58 p.m.
To 1bigbud: I too don`t get your comment about location. The location isn`t bad, right on Washtenaw near Big Boy and many other eateries. I`m an Ann Arborite and have eaten there often... it`s clean, the staff is freiendly and efficient and the food is good. Nothing wrong with it`s location.
Housedivided
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 7:17 p.m.
The University of Michigan as well as Eastern Michigan University are PUBLIC universities belonging to the State of Michigan NOT Ann Arbor or Ypsilanti. It is not up to Ann Arbor whether students attending EMU or UM may have use of each other's libraries. As far as crime reports, there is plenty of happenings in Ann Arbor to meet the needs of annarbor.com.
Unusual Suspect
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 9:51 p.m.
Reality divided.
justcurious
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 9:25 p.m.
What the heck are you talking about?
egcthree
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 8:47 p.m.
Im so confused..
Craig Lounsbury
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 7:33 p.m.
huh?
GoNavy
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 7:06 p.m.
Isn't this Ypsilanti news? Anything going on in Novi or Brighton while we're at it?
Robbie Renkes
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 7:05 p.m.
a
John of Saline
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 6:16 p.m.
"Dude, seriously, I ordered chile on my Coney dog, not pepper spray."
Craig Lounsbury
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 5:53 p.m.
Many moons ago the only place open 24 hours was the "drunken donuts" on Main Street. Ahhh the good old days.
jns131
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 11:31 p.m.
The township told them to close by 2 to avoid trouble. Guess they have to go at before they close I guess.
Shlobodon Dobodon
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 5:43 p.m.
Auto-one FTW
Murf
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 5:31 p.m.
How is it that Abe's doesn't seem to have a problem but this place does?!?
Bear
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 8:40 p.m.
abe's is also right by the Ypsilanti Police station! Hello!?! And, yes, the ignorant & intoxicated start trouble at Abe's as well. As for the Fleetwood, there are usually a lot of locals around to keep the idiots in check. And the police are never more than a couple of minutes away on busy nights.
djm12652
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 7:37 p.m.
But at the Fleetwood, there is always around to help people better communicate how they feel...and stoners are just hungry not angry...LOL
Dutchy734
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 5:55 p.m.
Even Fleetwood has problems like this..
roadsidedinerlover
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 5:49 p.m.
Abe's DOES have problems like this place does! There always are fights and I think there was a stabbing as well in the not so recent past.
tdw
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 5:01 p.m.
1bigbud....I don't understand your location remark.Please explain.You do realize that there are not many 24 hour restaurants around for the drunks to go to don't you ?
justcurious
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 4:58 p.m.
Sounds like they need to restrict their hours further. Maybe it's not worth the extra income to maintain those hours?
jns131
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 11:33 p.m.
They may have to close by 11 like Wendys does down the street. They do drive thru to keep the riff raff out of their building.
1bigbud
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 4:39 p.m.
Location -location -location--Thank goodness it was only pepper spray
Greggy_D
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 4:32 p.m.
Why on earth should a Coney Island (of all places) need a security guard?
ez12c
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 12:12 p.m.
Zuhk, Burger King had the stabbing.
tdw
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 10:47 a.m.
mohomed.....The only truth A2.com has a problem with is that there is crime in Ann Arbor
mohomed
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 : 12:50 a.m.
Because it's in Ypsi! This post will probably get removed but I'm just giving the cold hard truth. The AAnews doesn't like "truth" that isn't politically correct so I'll give this post about 5 minutes before it goes bye bye.
Zhuk
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 8:44 p.m.
I remember stopping at a Taco Bell in Toledo off of Main just south of the bridge (down town) (I-280) back in the early 1990s and they had an armed security guard in the lobby. The area could not be that bad due to all of the college kids hanging out at Frankies. As for Ypsi and issues at the restaurant... any place open in the middle of the night that has drunk people will have problems at some point. Add Drinking, gangs or whatever excuse and you have your answer. Heck, anyone remember the McDonalds stabbing in Saline? That happened during the day between two sober adults.
tdw
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 8:13 p.m.
Suspect....you are correct as this map clearly proves that Ann Arbor is problem free http://www.crimemapping.com/map.aspx?aid=6a6a4730-d69e-4c65-80bc-ab5b0798ffaa
Unusual Suspect
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 6:49 p.m.
It's a one-word answer that starts with the letter "Y."
dogman32
Mon, Sep 24, 2012 : 4:48 p.m.
It's where the drunks go after the bar closes bringing their inflated opinions of themselves to the forefront.