Posted on 10/26/2012 12:55:33 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The owner of a south Charlotte restaurant says he is “heartbroken” over an incident Sunday in which bantering between football fans got out of control, resulting in a U.S. Marine who lost both legs in Afghanistan being forced to leave the eatery with his wife, parents and friends.
Chris Neilsen, owner of the Moosehead Grill on Montford Drive, has been in contact with family members of Marine Garrett Carnes, of Mooresville, following the incident that Neilsen says “was awful.”
“I want to somehow make it right by them,” Neilsen says.
During a verbal altercation that some witnesses said almost came to blows, one patron allegedly told Carnes he was using his wheelchair “as an excuse.”
In an interview with The Observer, however, the fan said Carnes and members of his party were equally abusive. And he denied making a remark about the Marine’s wheelchair.
The incident happened after Carnes, his wife Courtney, their parents, and friends Brett and Nicole Coburn stopped at the restaurant for dinner after attending the Carolina Panthers’ game against Dallas. Several members of the party, including Garrett Carnes, were wearing Dallas Cowboys jerseys.
“Courtney was the first one out of the vehicle, and while she was getting Garrett’s wheelchair, one guy immediately started yelling at her,” said Brett Coburn, who described the man’s comments as “taunts.”
Coburn said that when the group reached the front door, the fan was waiting for them.
“He was standing at the door, and he started harassing us because of the Cowboys jerseys,” Coburn said.
He said the fan told Garrett Carnes, “Don’t use your wheelchair as a crutch.”
The fan, who did not want to give his name, gave a different account.
“Moosehead is a Panthers’ bar,” he said. “When they came, wearing the Cowboys’ jerseys, I started up on them. I asked them if they were Cowboys fans who lived in North Carolina.”
“I’m not going to fight someone in a wheelchair,” the fan said. “I said to him, ‘I’m not fighting you. Get four of your boys, and I’ll fight them.’ “
According to multiple accounts of the incident, Carnes told the patron – and others who were ridiculing the group for being Cowboys’ fans – that he was a veteran and had lost his legs in Afghanistan.
Members of the Carnes-Coburn party tried to “defend ourselves verbally,” Brett Coburn said.
“We were going back and forth,” the fan said. “Yes, it got out of control.”
The fan said one woman in the Carnes-Coburn party swore at him.
He said the fan walked toward Carnes in a threatening way, and some other patrons stepped in to break it up.
Neilsen said his employees are trained to separate possible combatants, in an effort to defuse such situations. On Sunday, staff members asked Garrett Carnes and his party to leave, while they took the fan to another area of the restaurant.
“It spiraled out of control,” Coburn says.
Courtney Carnes called police, but no charges were filed.
Neilsen said he arrived at the restaurant after the group had left and was in the parking lot, talking to police.
“I didn’t want them to leave,” he said of the Carnes-Coburn party, “but I understand why they left. I’m miserable. My heart hurts for them.”
He said the trouble was caused by people who “are not regulars” at the restaurant and added that the fan was not welcome to return.
Carnes, who is still undergoing treatment for his wounds at a Washington-area hospital, is trying to stay out of the dispute, Coburn said. Carnes’ mother, Rhonda, addressed a note to restaurant patrons on Facebook, saying, “Why didn’t any of you stand up for my son and daughter? And to think my son almost died for every single person in that bar, by defending all your freedom.”
The fan told the Observer, “He (Carnes) is a veteran, and I appreciate what he did for this country. But I don’t appreciate how abusive they were.”
I love sports and we have season tickets for two different sports for two different universities...but I can’t imagine getting this out of control over it...
Hell, I am 73 and would be angry enough to kick some butt myself...have 2 son’s that served in Air Force and one in Navy, have a grandson in Air Force....ignorant jerks should be cold co-ked at the start of their insanity...
I thank God that I am not the sort that would do such a thing.
Bless our veterans... we owe them a debt that cannot be repaid.
The Moosehead Grill deserves to go out of business for making the Marine and his party leave.
Although their Facebook page has been taken down, you can find them on yelp.com. Their rating has tanked over the last three days.
As for the idiot who taunted the Marine, his picture and name are out there, too. It is not hard to find.
No respect for others period.
Don’t wear Cowboys jerseys to a Panthers bar. Duh.
I think it might be more humiliating for a disabled veteran to get a “free pass” than to get a little verbal abuse.
I have, and have had many family members in the military — two nephews and a niece currently, two have had multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. I know they would agree.
There is no excuse for this behavior.
The owner seems like he is heartbroken over the incident. I am unsure if the owner even knew what the situation was. I am not sure if he deserves to go out of business. I do think that the entire family deserves free meals for the rest of the Marine’s life at that establishment.
The me generation has no authority but ... me.
Guys at a bar — probably drunk — getting into a nasty personal argument over a sports team? Sad to say it doesn’t surprise me.
In years gone by, that guy would have been wearing a sheet and a hood.
Dear fan,
1. it's a football team, not your mother.
2. F' you!
I agree. An ex-Marine who gave up limbs to fight so that jackass in the bar could live in a great country and have many freedoms and opportunities he would never have elsewhere. What is wrong with kids nowadays? Wait. Don’t answer that. We already know the answer. They’re spoiled indoctrinated to hate their own country brats (not all; I see glimmers of hope from time to time)
Agreed. Competition is as American as apple pie, but this boorish behavior is akin to the same displayed by urban gangs.
Respectfully disagree should be a mandated class throughout school and this behavior would greatly diminish.
There are vikings bars? panther bars? They must be in the hometown of those sports teams, because in my travels, I've never seen one.
There are thousands of STEELER BARS, a few cowboy {out} roadhouses and several Packer gin joints, but viking bars...where?
BTW, do the Rams play soccer or foosball?
Just kidding, maybe.
Me to fan: Who is the Vice President?
Fan: Uh, I dunno, Sarah Palin?
Obama voter?
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