LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — An argument that started at a Hooters restaurant led to 20 or more customers involved in a brawl that sent one man to the hospital with a stab wound, officials said.
A witness at the Palm Parkway restaurant, who asked not to be named, said he was in the outside bar area where the fight started at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
The people involved in the fight were members of two softball teams, witnesses said.
The two teams involved chose the same restaurant for dinner, a witness, who asked not to be identified, said.
“They just so happened to meet up here at Hooters, unexpected,” the witness said. “(Both teams) were eating and then, basically, it continued to escalate and what not, carried on from there.”
That’s when the situation got worse, he said.
“A big fight pops off,” the witness said. “Some guy got stabbed in the back and then, as well, he basically got pummeled down. It was an all-out, I mean that was an all-out brawl.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said 20 or more people were involved in the fight.
The fight went on for about five minutes, the witness said.
“We were right there,” he said, pointing to the outside bar area. “It was all taking place right there. Even one of the waitresses kind of got pushed.”
The stabbing victim, Matthew Waldron, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
Waldron told deputies that he was at the restaurant with his friend when his friend began to fight six other men, and when Waldron tried to pull his friend away, he was punched, kicked and stabbed.
He told deputies he would like to press charges.
Waldron's friend, Roger Nichols, told deputies the six men jumped him and he would also like to press charges.
A witness told deputies that two women were walking around the restaurant and when the women approached the six men, and when one of the men cornered one of the women, the brawl began.
The man who witnessed the fight said he couldn’t believe how quickly it started, and how serious it became.
“It was crazy,” he said. “You don’t really see that on a regular basis, a fight escalate to where someone’s getting stabbed in the back. I mean, after he’s already beat down. What’s the purpose of taking it to that level?”
Investigators have not said if they plan to make an arrest or multiple arrests in the case.
Cox Media Group
