Man beaten outside South Haven restaurant over a bet - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Man beaten outside South Haven restaurant over a bet

Jason Boron of South Haven spent several days in intensive care after being beaten Saturday outside Pepe's Restaurant in South Haven.

Boron, 35, broke several facial bones, including his eye socket, and also needed stitches to his forehead.

He told Porter County Sheriff's police about the attack Thursday after he was released from the unnamed hospital, where he said a nurse told him he could not file a police report until he left. Meanwhile, Lake Station police arrested and released the suspected attacker Wednesday on an unrelated charge.

The victim told police he was involved in a game of pool at the bar, at 809 McCool Road, with a $100 bet. The man who lost, the 29-year-old suspect from Lake Station, refused to pay, Boron said.

A bouncer witnessed them arguing and shoving each other, the employee later told police. He escorted Boron outside and returned to remove the Lake Station man from the bar, but he and the group of men he was with had left by another door.

Boron said he was sitting on a curb when the suspect and three other men attacked him, with the suspect being the main aggressor. The Lake Station man allegedly kicked him in the face and stomped on his head repeatedly as he lay in the street. He woke in a pool of blood and was taken home by a bar patron he met earlier that night who also was involved in the pool game. Boron's parents then took him to the emergency room, according to the police report.

Boron told police an off-duty officer working security saw everything but did not intervene. A bouncer contradicted this, saying he and other employees, including the officer from an unknown department in Lake County, did not hear or see the fight outside, although patrons told them of one, according to the police report.

Police attempted to arrest the suspect on Thursday at his home, after confirming his vehicles were in the garage and a television was on inside. Officers broke in the door when no one answered, but the man was not found.

The suspect is expected to be charged with aggravated battery causing serious injury. If convicted of the Class C felony, he could be sentenced to two to eight years in prison.