Michigan bar can be sued after attack on Black customer
Updated Apr 28, 2021;
WOLVERINE, MI – A Northern Michigan bar can be held responsible in an attack on a Black customer six years ago, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled, 9&10 News reports.
Six years ago, Edward Tyson, a Black man, went to B.S. and Co. Bar in Wolverine to pick up a pizza, the TV station reports. When he arrived David Dawkins, another customer, called Tyson racial slurs and punched him in the head. He was rendered unconscious and suffered brain damage. The beating continued while Tyson was unconscious.
Dawkins was convicted of aggravated assault, the report said. Tyson then filed civil lawsuits against him and the bar. A lower court judge had said the bar couldn’t be held liable for one customer attacking another. The appeals court disagreed, saying that the attack was “ongoing” and the bar was legally obligated to call the police immediately, which it didn’t.