Pepper spray used to disperse fighting groups outside coney island restaurant

Deputies from the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to Luca's Coney Island at 2469 Washtenaw Avenue, at 4:35 a.m. Saturday to investigate a report that a security guard may have been injured breaking up a fight between two large groups of men, police said.

The "disorderly parties" were gone by the time police arrived, according to a news release. The security guard was not injured, but pepper spray he used to disperse the crowd had irritated his eyes, said Sgt. Geoff Fox of the sheriff's office

A subsequent police investigation revealed that two large groups of males inside the restaurant began to "exchange words," according to the release. The security guards stepped in to break up the fight. One of the men threw a plate and bottle at security. The items missed but smashed a restaurant window.

The security guards got the two groups outside, but the men refused to leave, causing the security guards to use pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

The suspects are unknown at this time.

It was not the first time police had responded to a report of trouble at the restaurant.

Last year, the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees requested the 24-hour coney island shut down between the hours of 1:30 and 4 a.m. Monday mornings because police were getting too tied up there taking complaints of disorderly conduct, property damage, aggravated felonious assault, gambling, retail fraud and vagrancy. The restaurant complied -- and still does -- and now has two security guards on staff Thursday through Sunday night, according to a coney island employee.

"It doesn't seem to be as bad as it used to be," Fox said. "The security guards have done a good job of (stopping) things before they start."

View Larger Map