West Des Moines Police: Alleged ‘Bad Santa’ Attitude Wasn’t What Irked Marine

Two early Saturday morning fights handled by West Des Moines police had the victims complaining of “unfair fighting.”

Early that morning, a man who told police “he thought he was going to be fighting one guy, but as soon as it started, some others joined in,” according to a report filed by Officer Ken Brock.

In that incident, reported at 2:09 a.m., a group of people were eating at a nearly full Abelardo’s restaurant at 300 Grand Ave. According to Brock’s report, three men at a nearby table were speaking in Spanish “and looked at him, so he asked if they had a problem.”

An argument ensued and the group went outside to the parking lot. A friend broke up the fight, in which the victim suffered minor facial abrasions and an eye injury. He was at his home when he reported the incident to police.

Brock wrote in his report that it would be difficult to identify the suspects.

“He said that was fine and ‘it is what it is,’ “ Brock wrote. “He was mostly upset that it was three people against him.”

Fast forward to 3:09 a.m. at the Kum & Go parking lot, 745 S. 51st St., and the allegedly bad Santa.

Police had difficulty piecing together what happened because neither the victim nor the pair who allegedly assaulted him was forthcoming with information.

But the wife of the victim, a former Marine, said two men, one wearing an Iowa Hawkeyes shirt and the other wearing a white thermal-type shirt, Santa pants and a Santa hat, hit her husband in the face and then took off running.

The couple reportedly had been waiting at the convenience store for more than hour for a taxi. When the cab arrived, the alleged assailants tried to get in the car. The victim confronted them, an argument ensued and her husband was hit.

According to Officer Kraig Kinkaid’s report, the two men hit the victim, then took off running.

“He said he was a Marine and could not believe two people would fight against one,” Kinkaid wrote. “I asked him to calm down a bit and talk to me. He was extremely intoxicated and upset. He stated that he didn’t want anything done because there was nothing that could be done.”

The two suspects are brothers, one 33 and the other 35. One lives in Des Moines and the other lives in West Des Moines. Police located them, but they, too, were not forthcoming with information, Kinkaid reported.

One of the suspects claimed he had been hit in the face by the victim’s wife, but Kinkaid said there were no visible marks. Witnesses at the scene also did not confirm that, according to the report.