Brawl on Homan Avenue: Tara's story

 Posted on August 27,2013 in Assault and Battery

This week we are following the case of a man who was convicted of aggravated battery after a getting into a fight with his neighbor, Ken, and Ken's girlfriend, Tara. The fight happened early one summer evening and the two sides have drastically different versions of events.

Ken and Tara testified that Gary immediately started screaming at them after they returned home from a bar one evening. The couple said that they had been drinking, but were not drunk, and that Gary's profane insults were wholly unprovoked.

Tara said that she wanted to mend the feelings between the two men, so she went back outside to try and make peace with Gary. Upon approaching the fence that divided the two houses, Tara testified that she asked Gary to shake her hand, but he would only curse at her.

The woman who was with Gary then walked up to Tara and the two had a calm conversation about how the two men should resolve their differences.

According to Tara, she be blacked out during the conversation and woke up on the ground with blood coming from her face. Medical records indicate that Tara had a broken orbital bone, nose, deviated septum, nerve damage and suffered drooping in her eye because of the incident.

Ken testified that he watched Tara and the woman talk from his yard. As the women were talking, Ken says he saw Gary jump him, rush the fence, and punch Tara in the face.

Tara then fell and Ken called the police.

We will discuss Gary's version of events in our next post.

Source: People v. Daniel, 2013 IL App (1st) 121120-U Aug. 14, 2013