By Joe Johnson
A patron of a downtown Athens strip club early Saturday stabbed one employee in the face with a knife and cut another employee’s arm, Athens-Clarke County police said.
Officers responded to Toppers International Showbar on North Jackson Street at about 2:15 a.m. on a report of a fight, a police report noted.
The fight involved Toppers employees and 29-year-old Jewel Leon Clay of Lawrenceville.
An employee told police that prior to the altercation, Clay was being removed from the bar for an unknown reason, according to the report.
Lt. Shaun Barnett, ACCPD’s public information officer said that on his way out of the bar, Clay reportedly slammed the door open.
“According to the witness the bouncers at the door began to speak with Clay about slamming the door,” Barnett said. “That conversation then led to a verbal argument that escalated into the physical altercation.”
During the altercation, according to the police report, Clay stabbed one of the bouncers in the face and while another bouncer was wrestling the knife away from Clay, he suffered a laceration on his forearm.
That bouncer and other employees held Clay on the ground until officers arrived to take custody of him, according to the report. While being led to a police car, Clay broke free from an officer’s grasp and began to run, but he was quickly captured and placed in the car, according to the report.
Clay was booked into the county jail on two counts of aggravated assault and obstruction of a law enforcement office. He continued to be detained there without bail as of Monday afternoon,
The bouncer who was stabbed in the face, a 19-year-old Athens resident, was transported to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center.