In
March of 1978, the Fairfax County police launched another riot when they
flooded into the One South Restaurant Night Club and beat patrons with clubs,
placed two of them in the hospital and arrested six others. Several patrons of
the have filed brutality complaints, claiming that police went on a rampage in
the club, striking and arresting patrons who were doing nothing illegal.
The
cops had gone to the club to arrest a dishwasher who worked there. They claimed that as they were arrested the
man, someone threw a bottle at them. No
one else in the club saw a bottle thrown or saw or heard anyone interfering
with the arrest.
What
they did see was the two cops wrestling the man to the ground and beat him with
clubs. A patron described the atmosphere
as “absolute terror, people were afraid to move to do anything”
One
patron, for no apparent reason was dragged from the club by his hair, taken
outside into the parking lot and beat with clubs. The cop then returned, grabbed another man,
dragged him to the center of the floor, and beat him with a club. A patron said the cop appeared “Absolutely
berserk”
The
chief of police denied his cops did anything wrong and said that if they had
beaten people with club, then they were right in doing it. "We don't have any sadist on the
department," he said.
To
add even levity to the situation the Police Internal Affairs office promised to
investigate citizen’s complaints. In the meantime, the Board of Supervisors
said and did nothing.