Officer, employees punched after argument boils over at C.R. bar

Two police officers were assaulted after an argument between a woman and her boyfriend boiled over inside a downtown Cedar Rapids bar early Thursday.

Around 12:30 a.m., officers were waved over to Bricks Bar and Grill, 320 Second Ave. SE, by the owner, Drew Munson, 31. He told the officers his employees had been assaulted, and pointed out a woman who was walking down the street.

When police approached the woman, later identified as Taranasha L. Jackson, 21, of Cedar Rapids, she took off her shirt and began yelling obscenities toward the officers, according to the police report. When police tried to arrest Jackson, her boyfriend, Darryl D. Johnson, 24, of Mount Vernon, jumped on Officer Tracy Schmidt's back and punched him in the face several times, police said.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin, a police spokeswoman, said Jackson was intoxicated and claimed she was pregnant while officers tried to arrest her. Hamblin said she had to be carried to the squad car, and then complained that she was injured.

“As a precautionary measure, officers took her to St. Luke's,” Hamblin wrote in an e-mail. ”Jackson continued to be uncooperative and refused to walk into the hospital. A wheelchair was brought out. She refused to sit. She was assisted in sitting in the chair and bit Officer (Stacy) Baye on her finger.”

At the hospital, Jackson also kicked and spit on Officer Baye, according to a criminal complaint.

Witnesses told police it all started when employees tried to break up a fight between Jackson and Johnson inside the bar. Johnson pushed employee Jonathan Bagley, 25, against a wall and punched him in the face several times causing a black eye, and Jackson also joined in the assault, police said.

Employees Chad Coutts, 32, and James Soukup, 24, tried to help remove the couple from the bar and were also assaulted, police said.

“With a lot of our fights, at least on person is usually intoxicated,” Hamblin said. “That bolsters their confidence that they can take on the world.”

None of the officers or employees who were assaulted were taken to a hospital for medical treatment, Hamblin said.

Both Jackson and Johnson were taken to the Linn County Jail. Jackson is charged with four counts of assault, two counts of assault on a peace officer, public intoxication and interference with official acts. Johnson was charged with three counts of assault and interference with official acts.

Police were still at the bar around 1:30 a.m. when another fight broke out in the parking lot, Hamblin said. Three women who were involved were arrested, she said.