Bradley was at a roadhouse bar outside of Hanover, PA, a favorite haunt from years gone by, with a men’s room built over an old converted screened in porch. Brad just stopped in for a couple of beers. He’s a big man nearing retirement; a long haul trucker originally from Texas. Brad is one of the more mild mannered people I have interviewed, a real gentleman in a manchild world.
He had noticed Susanne when he came in and had said hello. She is a longtime friend of his youngest son. She seemed to be there with friends and having a good time so he didn’t stop to talk.
After a beer or so Susanne came up to the bar and said, “Mister Brad is it okay if I stand here next to you. This guy has been bothering me and I don’t want to have to talk to him.”
Brad just nodded ‘yes’ to her and cast an eye on the fellow she was speaking of. The offensive drunk was a young thin man who seemed of little account.
After a few minutes the creep squeezed up to the bar between Susanne and Brad and elbowed him, not a strike, but a needling grind in his side.
Brad said, “Do you mind?”
The man stopped, and then. Moments later, did it again.
Brad warned him not to do it again.
The man did it again.
Brad said to the bartender, “Hey Harvey, please tell this guy to stop touching me.”
Harvey translated the request into barkeep speak. Even after the bartender spoke to him the creep continued with the elbow. Brad seized him by the seat of the pants and the collar, lifted him into the air, and smashed his upper half into the bar top.
The fellow had been surprisingly light, even for a scrawny guy. Harvey told Brad to leave and he did. The revived fool was then made to leave after Brad had cleared out.
This event is represented in my original 1,675 account survey from the late 1990s by about 300 lines of checked off boxes. This type of thing has become all but none existent in Baltimore City. When I do get such accounts it comes courtesy of bikers and truckers like Dante and Brad. Most bar fights are not worthy of the name and fall into this category of one-sided dominant acts that barely rise to the level of an ‘altercation’. In urban environments ‘fools’ like the ‘elbow guy’ generally supply strong arm mugging victims, targets for thrill stompings and gang jump-ins, as well as easy arrests for loitering, public intoxication, and possession.
