Ben Behnkendorf

Muncie, you never cease to amaze me. I stumbled upon this just this morning as I was reading my RSS feeds. This is taken from the indystar.com. Please don’t sue me Indy Star.

By DOUGLAS WALKER
Muncie Star Press

MUNCIE — A local man has learned the hard way that there truly is no business like show business.

In a lawsuit filed last week, William C. Brown alleges that he was knocked unconscious by one or more bouncers after he took the stage at the Jokers Wild cocktail lounge, 2206 S. Madison St., and “participated in a dancer’s performance.”

In his Delaware Circuit Court 4 suit, Brown says the attack, on March 27, 2009, actually came after he left the stage and was in the process of counting 40 $1 bills he apparently planned to distribute to dancers at the southside business, which features topless dancing.

Brown claims one of the bar’s owners, Alice Harty, assumed “erroneously” that he had stolen the money from a dancer during his trip on stage, and that she ordered one or more of the Jokers Wild security team to “batter Brown, cause him bodily injury and take his money.”

The suit — filed by Carmel attorney Sherwood Hill and Muncie lawyer James Schafer — says Brown was knocked unconscious by a sudden punch to the face and then relieved of his 40 $1 bills.

After entering the bar “for the purpose of purchasing and consuming alcoholic beverages and viewing adult entertainment and exotic dancing,” Brown instead became the target of the “intentional inflicting of emotional distress,” the suit claims, alleging the plaintiff was a victim of battery, conspiracy to batter, conversion and negligence.

Named as defendants are Harty, Harty Enterprises doing business as Jokers Wild and four men identified as bouncers at the bar, responsible for “ejecting disorderly persons” — Robbie Childers, Melvin Davis, Ralph Durke and Chris Goe.

The suit does not specify which of the bouncers, if any, is alleged to have struck Brown.

Efforts Monday to reach Harty for comment were unsuccessful.