A bouncer at a downtown bar accused of hitting a man on the head with a bottle and causing a brain bleed has accepted a plea offer.
Danny Witcher III, 20, Toledo, appeared Tuesday in the courtroom of Wood County Common Pleas Judge Matt Reger.
Witcher was indicted in May for felonious assault, a second-degree felony.
He pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of aggravated assault, a fourth-degree felony.
On March 22 at 12:54 a.m. while on routine patrol, Bowling Green police observed a large group of people standing outside a bar in the 100 block of North Main Street. Individuals within the group were fighting with one another. When the officer stepped out of the cruiser, the group dispersed.
Soon after, a man approached officers to report he had been hit in the head with a beer bottle while inside the bar.
BG EMS was called to the scene. When officers went to the hospital to serve the man with a citation for disorderly conduct, they learned the person had a brain bleed and was going to be transported to a Toledo trauma center.
Later, the business manager informed officer that one of the members involved in the fight was a bouncer at the bar. He was identified as Witcher.
Witcher was not working that night and was at the bar with friends.
Camera footage showed Witcher breaking up the fight between two individuals before finding himself in a fight with a group. He later informed police that bouncers are expected to act, even when they are not working.
He admitted to using a bottle to protect himself.
Sentencing was set for Oct. 15.
