Bar employee thrown down stairs in Iowa City robbery

UPDATE: Police have arrested a Coralville man suspected in the robbery at the Yacht Club bar early this morning in which a bar employee was thrown down a flight of stairs.

Around 12:57 a.m., police responded at the Yacht Club, 13 S. Linn St., for a reported robbery. According to police, Robbie D. Taylor, 23, and Anthony J. Williams, 19, assaulted a male bar employee, then took the cash register and left.

As the men walked out, police said Taylor grabbed the employee, picked him up and threw him down a long flight of stairs.

"The victim is very small in stature and being thrown down the stairs was likely to inflict serious injury," officials wrote in the criminal complaint.

Police said Williams grabbed a box containing less than $500 from the employee. Taylor and Williams ran from the bar and fled the area in a car, police said.

Police said witnesses from the bar advised police of possible suspects, and the employee was able to identify Taylor as the one who threw him down the stairs.

Police said the employee received non-life threatening injuries to his hip. He declined medical treatment at the scene.

Taylor, of 725 20th Ave. No. 1, has been charged with first-degree robbery, a class B felony, and assault with intent to cause serious injury, an aggravated misdemeanor.

Williams' family is cooperating with police, and he is expected to turn himself in on charges of first-degree robbery and assault with intent to cause serious injury, police said.

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