911 calls released after MU basketball incident at downtown club

MILWAUKEE -- Newly-released 911 calls depict a chaotic scene at Milwaukee's Apartment 720 back in January. Police say the calls came in the night members of Marquette University's men's basketball team may have been involved in a bar fight.

The 911 caller tells FOX6 News he was at the Apartment 720 nightclub the night of the incident, for a family member's birthday party. The man says his group had been at the club for about an hour, when shortly after midnight on January 29th, a police report says a fight erupted between the man's group and members of Marquette's men's basketball team.

FOX6 News spoke with the victim involved Monday, April 9th.

In the police report report, club staff say roughly 30 people from the party had gotten in a fight with members of the Marquette University basketball team.

The victim - a man who says he was part of the private party and wished to remain anonymous when speaking with FOX6 News, says his group was mostly family, and they were celebrating a birthday. "We were just in our area, minding our own business, trying not to mess with nobody or bother anybody else. Out of nowhere, a fight just broke out. Within probably like, an hour after we were there, that's when it all escalated," the man said.

According to the police report, a Milwaukee police sergeant driving through the area saw four people arguing outside Apartment 720. The sergeant stopped to break it up, when he describes in the report seeing 10 to 15 people in a physical fight in the club's stairwell. The report says the fight spilled onto the sidewalk, and was followed by another group of 10 to 15 people also going at it.

"I was right there. I tried to break it up, and then it all just broke out, and then basically tried to push people away and try to stop what was going on. There's nothing you can do but try to defend yourself if you're getting thrown punches at, or anything like that," the man said.

The police report identifies 10 people being involved out of the estimated 20 to 30. That list includes at least six Marquette basketball players. The six players were cited for being in Apartment 720 that night while underage. Nobody was charged for the fight.

The anonymous victim ended up with about $1,500 in medical bills after insurance, but he did not pursue charges. He says judgement is in God's hands.

FOX6 News has tried rather extensively to contact any of the management or owners of Apartment 720, but all attempts have gone unreturned.

As for the timing of the police report, a Milwaukee Police Department spokeswoman says a pending investigation had kept its release on hold.