Starting A Fire Is Not A Good Way To Get Out Of A Bar Tab

March has a way of making people go mad. But college basketball had nothing to do with the craziness that happened at a South Daytona, FL, bar on Friday after a man allegedly tried to skip out on his bar tab by starting a fire.

Things got a little heated at Mark’s Sports Pub when a 33-year-old man was arrested on a slew of charges after allegedly setting the men’s room trashcan on fire and punching two bar patrons when he tried to flee the bar without paying his bill, 1150 WNDB News reports.

According to South Daytona Police the man ordered $80 worth of Jagermeister shots, drinking them one after the other, before going to the restroom and allegedly setting the trashcan on fire.

Police think the fire was set as a diversion so the man could leave the bar without paying his tab.

“The patrons put the fire out before [the] fire department arrived,” a police lieutenant tells 1150 WNDB News. “[There was] no serious damage done to the bathroom or business, just [the] trash can.”

The diversion didn’t seem to work.

In an attempt to stop the man from leaving through a back door two fellow patrons stepped in and a scuffle ensued.

The man allegedly punched a patron over 70 years of age in the face. At that point another patron blocked the man’s path and was punched in the face, causing a large open cut.

After the fight, the man ran out of the bar toward a nearby bank where police caught up to him.

He was held on $18,500 bond on six charges, including criminal mischief, aggravated battery, defrauding an inn keeper, assaulting a law enforcement officer, battery on an elderly person and arson.

South Daytona PD: Man Set Fire At Sports Pub To Back Out Of Tab [1150 WNDB]

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