Six Charged After Chuck E. Cheese Brawl
MATTESON, Ill. (STMW) - Chuck E. Cheese commercials boast that the pizza and entertainment chain's restaurants are places "where a kid can be a kid."
On Saturday, the Chuck E. Cheese in Matteson was a place where several men had to be subdued with pepper spray after fighting and flipping over an arcade machine, police said.
Five men and a teenage boy were charged with mob action and disorderly conduct for their roles in the incident, police said. The men charged were Devon Redd, 20, of Dartmouth Lane, Olympia Fields; Nealon M. Moore, 19, of Stuart Court, Lynwood; Tyris O. Cheers, 19, of Oak St., Chicago Heights; Willie Reeves, 19, of W. 141st St., Dixmoor; and Jerrold T. Boulware, 25, of S. London Drive, Olympia Fields, police said.
An off-duty Matteson police officer working security at the restaurant, 106 Town Center Road, called police at 4:30 p.m. Saturday after a fight broke out, police said. When Matteson police arrived, they had a hard time getting into the restaurant because customers had packed into the entryway.
Once they got inside, police found the security guard near the bathroom, near two men who had been handcuffed after fighting, police said. Some of the fighters had been subdued with pepper spray and the odor was lingering, police said.
After the suspects were taken away, their female companions started fighting with each other in the restaurant. Police broke up that fight and told the restaurant's management that the store would be closed for the rest of the day if any more fighting took place, police said.
While at the police station, the six suspects were suffering from various injuries, police said. The teen's hands were sore "presumably from punching," police said, and Redd had a minor puncture wound to the left side of his chest but was unsure how it happened.
The suspects offered different versions of what happened, but all agreed the fight started over the use of an arcade game, police said.
Chuck E. Cheese general manager Barbara Schmeissing told police a $3,000 arcade machine was flipped over during the chaos and that all the men now are banned from the property, police said.
Brenda Hollway, a spokeswoman for CEC Entertainment, Inc., said she believed the use of pepper spray to break up the fight was justified.
Chuck E. Cheese is a children's-themed restaurant. The Matteson location features arcade machines, a ball pit, animatronic singers and dancers, food service and beer and wine.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2011. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
