A Wildwood man punched and kicked another man, breaking his nose and a facial bone, and knocking out teeth at a local bar.
Craig M. Gustafson, 38, of the 300 block of Copper Mountain Court in Wildwood, was charged Monday with first-degree assault.
St. Louis County Police said Gustafson punched the man in the face, knocking him down Dec. 29 at Larry’s Tavern. Gustafson and another man then repeatedly punched and kicked the man, who had teeth knocked out and suffered a broken nose and a bilateral Le Fort fracture, a broken facial bone that required surgery according to court documents.
The man reports continued pain and the possibility of another surgery, police said.
Police have not yet identified the second man in the assault, according to a St. Louis County Police warrant application.
Bail was set at $50,000 for Gustafson. He was released from St. Louis County jail after being served with an arrest warrant Tuesday.
For more crime information on Eureka-Wildwood Patch, see the following articles:
- Police Arrest Man Wanted for Assault; Chase Ends at Eureka on I-44
And, while I believe that bar fights are usually carried out by both parties, I happen to believe that a beating this severe, this painful and the sheer force used to impart this much damage - and subsequent surgerieS - was carried out by someone who has massive anger issues or who was racially motivated to carry out such an act. A bar fight is one thing but beating a person this harshly and kicking them in the face over and over again? As they say, it's a bit of overkill. I'm sure the victim didn't deserve that as I don't think anything could merit that much destruction of a person's face; but that's just my personal opinion.
I don't think this has anything to do with Larry's and don't know why anyone would assume this. As someone stated earlier, this is a case of a bar fight, but one gone terribly wrong. It doesn't matter where it happened, it just matters that it did and that the person(s) responsible pay for their crime. Period.