Police: Pepper Spray Ends Fight on the Dance Floor

A fight on the dance floor at Saint - presumably over a girl - involved six to eight men, a lone police officer who got in the middle, two bursts of pepper spray, and chaos as the crowd evacuated at 1:36 a.m. Sunday.

Jimmy Douangchith, of 16 Lawton Place, Waltham, was arrested at the 90 Exeter Street bar and charged with assault and battery on a police officer.

As detail officer Javier Perez tried to break up the fight, Douangchitch allegedly punched him in the head/neck and continued to be aggressive - causing Perez to Pepper spray him in the face - twice - in order to arrest him.

At this point, "...all the club patrons immediately began to scatter in fear as the fight was occurring and began to exit the club in rapid fashion, as to avoid being injured," according to the police report.

Saint, with the full cooperation of the club manager, was issued a licenses premises violation.

Play by play

Perez, uniformed on a paid detail for Saint, joined bar security in separating three to four males in the middle of the dance floor.

"Officer Perez in full uniform separated one of the males with a white T-shirt and yelled over the music... "Boston Police" as he attempted to calm him and keep him away from the other males that were involved in the fight."

The man was "very agitated" and continued say "that's my brother" - then ran past Perez and a large fight broke out between six - eight people.

As he and security tried to break it up, two men started swinging and Douangchith "punched officer Perez in the left size of the head/neck area." Perez was able to block a second blow from someone else with his arm.

"Due to the size of the crowd, the number of males involved in the fight, and officer Perez being by himself at the time of the fight, officer Perez took out his department issued Pepper spray in a ready position," the report said. 

Douangchith ignored warnings they would all be sprayed if they didn't stop, and "continued to swing and approach officer Perez in an aggressive manner."

At this point, Perez sprayed him once in the face..."which seemed to have little affect" as Douangchith continued toward him. So he sprayed him again, which incapacitated him and Perez placed him under arrest.

How it started

Some people at the club may have been exposed to the pepper spray, the report said. But most ran out of the bar, and Perez called dispatch for crowd control.

Perez wasn't able to interview any witnesses in the chaos, but a man involved in the fight told police he tried to dance with a girl, when an male with a blue shirt confronted him. According to the report, he pushed him away, and they both started to throw punches, which sparked a larger fight.