Ahmad Salam doesn’t know exactly what sparked violence in the Murphree parking lot Thursday morning, but he has a guess.
Two students were assaulted by four men shortly after 2 a.m.
The attackers were arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. The instigator was familiar: alcohol.
Salam and his friend, Vishal Singh, were waiting to be picked up in the parking lot after spending the night at Grog House Bar and Grill.
Four strangers approached, one yelling at Salam and Singh for no apparent reason. Then the strangers attacked.
Erick J. Medina, 21; Frederick V. Medina, 22; Winston M. Frye Aranda, 22; and Michael L. Frye Aranda, 23, were charged with disorderly conduct. Aranda screamed at Salam and Singh and was also charged with battery on an officer and resisting with violence.
“One of them was super, super intoxicated,” said Salam, an accounting graduate student. “He was trying to start something. We had never seen him in our lives. We weren’t sure what was going on.”
The three other men with Aranda initially tried to hold him back, Salam said. Eventually, though, something switched. He doesn’t know why, but all four started fighting Salam and Singh.
Two University Police officers were around the corner when they heard that a fight broke out in the parking lot.
When they arrived, police saw four men kicking Salam and Singh as the victims lay on the asphalt, Maj. Brad Barber said.
When officer Britney Combs attempted to drag Aranda down by his arm, he pulled away and tried to punch her, according to an arrest report. Combs then sprayed Aranda with pepper spray and handcuffed him.
Salam and Singh both said the incident was not a big deal. Neither went to the hospital and both were unable to remember how long the fight lasted.
“The cops were on it pretty much immediately,” Salam said.
He and Singh couldn’t have stopped it. They couldn’t reason with their attackers.
“It was one of those drunk things,” he said.
