Sidetrack Stabbing Case Now Investigated As Homicide: Report

OAK CREEK, WI -- Authorities in Oak Creek say that a man responsible for starting a fight at Sidetracked, has been charged in court. The case is now being investigated as a homicide after one of the victims later died at his home in Racine, authorities say.

Authorities say that Rick Hintz, 42, of Cudahy has been charged with substantial battery, two charges of misdemeanor battery and also disorderly conduct. Prosecutors say that one of the people that Hintz fought at the bar, Arthur Phillips, 49, collapsed at his Racine home just hours after the fight and died in a hospital that evening. Law enforcement is treating the matter as a homicide investigation.

The Incident

Police responded to the 800 block of W. Oakwood Road just before 3 a.m. on Sep. 15 on a report of a battery.
According to police reports, police responded on a report that a person was reportedly being stabbed in the area of Sidetracked. Police reported that Hintz became angry with several customers at Sidetracked. He threw one person into a retaining wall, causing bruising and cuts to her arm.

Reports stated that the altercation drew the attention of neighbors who were having a bonfire. Several people at the bonfire ran to the scene, and Hintz reportedly fled the scene on foot.

According to reports, Hintz was chased down by one of the people who were at the bonfire. When Hintz' pursuer caught up to him, police reported that he turned around and stabbed his pursuer in the abdomen, causing a three-inch laceration that was approximately an inch-and-a-half deep.

Undeterred, the man who was stabbed caught up to Hintz a second time, this time tackling him, where he and his friends restrained him until police arrested him.

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