LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Jason Lee Hathaway started the fight outside of Big League Sports Bar late Saturday that ended with Nicholas Lusson’s death, according to prosecutors.
As a large group of bikers arrived at the bar, bouncer Brandon Osborne was standing outside of the sports bar at 140 Frontage Road with Brandon Wilcox and Colton Mitchell about 10:20 p.m. Saturday.
Osborne turned around when he heard someone yell, and that’s when Hathaway punched Osborne with brass knuckles and hit him in the head with a tire iron, prosecutors said in a probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday with charges. Hathaway hit Osborne several more times, according to the affidavit.
On Wednesday, prosecutors charged Hathaway, 43, of Michigan City, with battery with a deadly weapon and filed that they intend to charge Hathaway with a sentence-enhancing charge of criminal gang activity.
The criminal gang activity allegation is that Hathaway is a member of a gang who acted at the direction of the gang or to further the interest of the gang, according to the charging information.
Lafayette police said the fight was between rival motorcycle clubs — the Hells Angels and the Mongols.
After the initial attack, Osborne told police he saw several people pointing guns at him, according to the affidavit.
During the melee, Lusson hit Mitchell in the head with a metal object, and Mitchell stabbed Lusson in the chest with a knife, according to Lafayette police.
Lusson died in the parking lot.
With the two motorcycle clubs gathering in the bar’s parking lot in the strip mall just west of the Cracker Barrel and north of Indiana 26, Lafayette police had every patrol officer on duty during in the parking lot and later dispatched the SWAT team to keep the peace. Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office had five of its six on-duty deputies at the scene.
West Lafayette police responded to calls in Lafayette, and Indiana State Police assisted the sole patrolling deputy by answering calls in the sheriff’s office district.
Mitchell, who police said stabbed Lusson, has not been arrested or charged.
After police reviewed the bar’s video surveillance, officers arrested Brandon Lee Johnson, 25, of Anderson.
An earlier probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson’s case indicated the police recognized him as one of the people pointing guns at Osborne during the fight, stating Johnson approached Osborne “in an aggressive manner with a handgun.”
The probable cause affidavit filed Wednesday indicated the video showed Johnson approaching Osborne, Wilcox and Mitchell from their blind side while pulling a pistol, which he did not have a license to carry, according to prosecutors.
He was jailed early Sunday, and, on Wednesday, prosecutors charged Johnson with carrying a handgun without a license, a misdemeanor, according to online court records.
Both Hathway and Johnson remained incarcerated Wednesday at the Tippecanoe County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 surety bond and a $10,000 cash bond, according to online jail records.
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Source: Journal and Courier