Cops find themselves the target in bar fight
Crowd turns on police as they respond to dance floor altercation
BY BRIAN DONAHUE
Staff Writer

EAST BRUNSWICK - Police on security patrol at a local bar found themselves fending off a crowd of attackers last weekend after they attempted to break up a fight.

The early Sunday morning fracas inside the Starlite Lounge, which is located at the Days Inn on Route 18 south, saw two police officers being advanced upon by a crowd while a third fought off a man who jumped on his back and attempted to grab his gun.

The officers eventually gained control and arrested the two men who reportedly started the fight.

The incident took place around 12:46 a.m. Sunday when patrolmen Eric Wood and Joseph Marcantonio were working a security detail at the Starlite, which hires off-duty township officers for weekend night security. The two officers were speaking with a third, Patrolman Alex Todoroff, when they became aware of a fight breaking out on the dance floor.

The three officers responded and separated Jose I. Diaz-Lazo, 39, and Yerson Ortiz-Lara, 34, both of New Brunswick.

While separating the two men, Ortiz-Lara began punching Todoroff. At that point, Todoroff and Marcantonio attempted to take Ortiz-Lara into custody, but several other individuals became involved and attempted to prevent the officers from handcuffing Ortiz-Lara, according to police.

At the same time, Diaz-Lazo charged at Wood, who was trying to protect the other officers as they made the arrest. Diaz-Lazo jumped on Wood's back and attempted to remove his handgun from his holster.

As the three officers fought with a crowd of attackers, Diaz-Lazo, unsuccessful in disarming the officer, ran off and hid elsewhere in the bar, police said.

The officers were able to remove Ortiz-Lara from the bar and later found Diaz-Lazo. When officers advised him that he was under arrest, Diaz-Lazo allegedly lunged at the officers with a beer bottle. The officers were able to disarm him, however, and took him into custody.

East Brunswick Police Lt. William Krause said the three officers did a great job of bringing an out-of-control and dangerous situation under control.

"They definitely showed a lot of good restraint," he said. "Especially when it gets to the point where someone is on an officer's back trying to disarm them, it could have gotten much more violent."

None of the three officers were injured.

Diaz-Lazo was charged with attempting to disarm a police officer, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and obstruction of justice. He was evaluated at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, for injuries sustained in the attack on the officers, and was later committed to the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, North Brunswick, on $35,000 bail.

Ortiz-Lara was charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest and obstruction of justice, and was committed to the county jail on $25,000 bail.

There was no information available on the cause of the initial fight.

Police were unable to identify and arrest the other individuals who interfered and tried to prevent the arrest of Ortiz-Lara.

Krause said the three officers simply did not have the manpower to make further arrests. He noted that it was a large group of people that closed in on the officers as they tried to arrest the suspects, and Wood's attempt to watch their backs was stifled by Diaz-Lazo's alleged assault and attempt at taking his gun.

"This was a crowd-size group, not just two or three people," Krause said. "Everyone was trying to interfere."

Despite the incident, Krause said he did not know whether the bar could be considered a problem location or whether such an instance would have an effect on its liquor license in the future.

He noted that there tends to be occasional problems anywhere there are large crowds of people who are consuming alcohol. There have been fights in the past, he said, but not to the point where it is considered an ongoing problem at the Starlite.

"I don't think it points to neglect on the part of the establishment," he said. "The fact that they hire us means that they're trying to keep a safe environment."

The bar has been retaining the off-duty officers since it began attracting larger crowds years ago, he said.