Four charged in downtown Naperville weekend fights
By Susan Frick Carlman scarlman@stmedianetwork.com November 14, 2012 4:44PM
Updated: December 19, 2012 11:58AM
Late-night revelry in downtown Naperville continued to spill over into violence last weekend. Two incidents Saturday night resulted in police arresting several people.
Just after 11 p.m., three Aurora men allegedly started a fight outside Rizzo’s, 6 W. Jefferson Ave., police Sgt. Lou Cammiso said.
“They were not allowed in Rizzo’s because of their dress code, and then basically I think they just started arguing and beefing with the doorman,” Cammiso said.
The police report said Steven C. Williams, 28, shoved a door man after he and his companions were refused entry. Three other bouncers came to help, and then Erik L. Williams, 21, and Darren Hatchett, 24, joined the melee, police said.
“That’s when police intervened,” Cammiso said.
Steven Williams was charged with resisting a police officer, and all three men were cited for misdemeanor battery, he said.
In the second incident, 29-year-old Veronica Rodriguez of Lisle also was told she couldn’t enter a downtown bar. That happened at BlackFinn American Saloon, 16 W. Jefferson Ave., at about 1:25 a.m. Sunday.
An officer who was part of the recently beefed-up police presence on weekend nights downtown noticed the fight between the door man and would-be patron, Cammiso said.
“Apparently she said she’d had too much to drink, and the officer reported that her speech was slurred and slow, and (she) had alcohol on her breath,” he said.
Rodriquez was charged with battery in connection with the incident.
The two recent run-ins are not anomalies. Along with more bar fights has come an increase in other nighttime crime downtown. A pair of armed robbers last month stole purses from two women near Main Street and Jackson Avenue. Two stabbings — one of which took the life of well-loved local schoolteacher Shaun Wild last February — also have put a spotlight on the state of downtown nightlife.
Cammiso sees reason for optimism in the bars’ discretion last weekend.
“I think this is typical,” he said. “And I think because of what the liquor commission and the chief are doing, kind of keeping issues to the forefront, (emphasizing) that the bars down there need to be more vigilant in terms of not overserving people, I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
“They’re starting to do a better job, which is good.”
