A bar fight turned into what police are calling a ""riot"" and led to two arrests and over 50 people participating in numerous brawls at High Noon Saloon, 701 E. Washington Ave., early Monday morning.
According to Madison police, employees at the High Noon Saloon alerted officers to the bar, which is just east of Capitol Square, because of ""riot"" conditions.
Police said the bar was littered with numerous shards of glass from broken beer bottles and approximately 50 people were engaged in fights.
Two Madison area women were arrested—Pam Edwards, 19, and DeArthur Edwards, 24—as a result of the incident and cited with resisting officers.
Madison police spokesperson Mike Hanson said the bar called in the incident because they could no longer handle the situation themselves.
He said once officers arrived at the scene they found pool balls, chairs and glass bottles being used as weapons in the brawl, while various hostilities, arguments and fights occurred in the parking lot.
""People were still actively fighting inside the bar,"" Hanson said.
Cathy Dethmers, owner and manager of High Noon Saloon, said the situation began as a few people fighting but soon the number of people joining in the fracas escalated out of control.
Still, Dethmers said her employees were not harmed, the club was not damaged and everyone involved handled it the right way.
""We had more than enough security,"" Dethmers said. ""And I feel that my staff took all the right steps.""
As far as possible sanctions on the bar for the actions that took place, Hanson said this kind of situation is typically sent to the Alcohol License Review Committee.
However, the city's Alcohol Policy Coordinator Joel Plant said if the police are involved they have the right to cite the bar and that the ALRC will not become involved until the police close the case.
Dethmers said her club followed all the rules and sanctions should not be taken.
She noted the High Noon Saloon has never had an incident happen like this before and said she believes the reason this is news is because of the bar fights at Club Majestic last year.
""With all the things that happened at Club Majestic ... I think people are trying to draw parallels,"" Dethmers said.
