Video Shows Massive Brawl In Ohio Waffle House Restaurant

The video of a massive fight caught on camera at a Lima, Ohio, Waffle House was released by the authorities in the hope of finding a person of interest in the incident.

The Allen County Sheriff’s Office said the brawl happened Dec. 26 around 3 a.m. EST and involved several men and women. The exact cause behind the brawl was not immediately known. The fight that began inside later spilled out into the parking lot in front of police officers as they arrived after 911 calls poured in, CBS affiliate WNCN reported.

“Could y’all please come, the Waffle House been torn apart!” said a 911 caller.

Moniqua Lasenby, 26, was arrested and charged with persistent disorderly conduct. Nahporchia Allen, 22, was arrested for a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct by fighting after it was found she and Lasenby were involved. The authorities are also on the lookout for Decorion Haneef Dawson, who was declared a person of interest in the altercation.

"Our Investigators would like to speak to Decorion H. Dawson in reference to the incident at Waffle House", the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post and encouraged anyone who knew about his whereabouts to come forward.

In the video, almost a dozen people were seen delivering blows to each other and screaming profanities. According to the police, the woman, who supposedly started the fight, soon threw the restaurant into chaos.

“I had my head phones in and, next you know, glass just started flying,” said witness Trey Mack to KRON-TV. “It was goin’ down up in there,” he added.

The video was recorded on a cellphone by a customer standing at the counter of the restaurant. He can be heard saying: “Yeah, I need my food, still.”

He was then seen handing over another phone he found to its owner.

“What I’m hearing from our division manager is that there were personality conflicts involved and it escalated,” said Waffle House spokesperson Pat Warner. He added they were conducting an investigation into the incident along with the police department.

Meanwhile, Lima Area Black Ministerial Alliance gathered Thursday to discuss the incident and called for an end to community violence, local news publication limaohio.com reported. Pastor Dennis Ward spoke about the incident and called it “disgusting.”

“From a pastoral point of view and minister point of view, it really disgusted us to the point where we just saw a lot of young people coming together and fighting,” Ward said. “It really disturbed us when we saw a young man hitting a woman. That should never be. ... So again, we have people, city councilmen that’s in place, we have the mayor, we have the police chief and most of these are elected officials. When things like this happen, where are the councilmen, where is the mayor? We are all accountable. It’s a community effort.”

“We do hope the disturbing violence on that video will be addressed legally. We certainly hope that is addressed in addition to what we may attempt to do,” said Pastor A.L. Butler, of Providence Missionary Baptist Church.