Man Says He Was Brutally Beaten Outside River North Club While Bouncers Did Nothing

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    Chicago, IL (WBBM) — A man said he was beaten up during a night out at a River North nightclub while the bouncers didn’t bat an eye.

CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar sat down with the man, Jeovany Guerrero Martinez, who has now filed a lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Guerrero Martinez said he was injured after a fight inside Spybar was allowed to continue outside. He said video of the brawl showed that the bouncers could have stepped in.

A broken bottle is heard smashing toward Guerrero Martinez in the video, as fists also fly toward him. He takes a beating on the ground in front of the alley entrance of Spybar on Franklin Street.

“They didn’t defend me. They didn’t do anything,” Guerrero Martinez said. “That’s my main concern.”

Guerrero Martinez said the bouncers watched on as he got beaten up during a night out in June.

“They were right next to it, actively not doing anything,” said attorney Michael Gravlin.

In the lawsuit, attorney Michael Gravlin said Spybar and its security “failed to break up, aid, assist or private any help.”

“Nobody deserves to have five people push you to the ground and get beaten like that while the establishment looks on,” Gravlin said.

“We were having a good time. We were dancing. We were, I mean, having a couple drinks,” Guerrero Martinez said.

Guerrero Martinez said he was inside the club when another group of men started fighting him and other friends at his table.

“I started defending myself because they were fighting me already,” he said.

Guerrero Martinez said security kicked him out, along with the people he was fighting with.

“You cannot run away because it’s like a closed space,” Guerrero Martinez said.

“They leave him right there with people who are fighting with him one minute previously in the club,” Gravlin said. “He’s outnumbered and pinned in, and has no place to go.”

Guerrero Martinez, 30, said once outside, he was trapped inside the barriers used to form a line outside the club.

“They all were beating me on the floor,” he said.

He said the security did nothing.

“Nothing,” Guerrero Martinez said. “I have a video that you can see, they’re just like looking around, I’m just like covering myself with my hands, and I’m looking at the security, (they’re) like doing nothing.”

The beating was so bad it sent him to the hospital with cuts to his hand and back, and swelling.

Guerrero Martinez makes his money playing the drums, and said the injuries forced him to miss several gigs.

“I didn’t ask for this,” he said.

CBS 2 reached out to Spybar and had not received a call back as of Monday night.

The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $50,000.

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