GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — As of Monday morning, Grand Rapids police said several witnesses have been interviewed about the brawl that killed Greg Barker.
The incident took place Saturday morning just after 1:00 a.m. in downtown Grand Rapids. Police said 21-year-old Barker backed off from the chaos a few times. He was trying to pull his friend away from the crowd. There was a pile up in the B.O.B. parking lot. Barker ended up getting injured during the brawl, although he did not instigate it. Grand Rapids lieutenant Pat Merrill said Barker never threw a punch.
Merrill said a group of girls had been arguing in front of the B.O.B. Then some guys got physical. About six guys chased one man into the B.O.B. parking lot.
“But that one guy was not our victim,” Merrill said.
“Really, they`re chasing this one guy. Our victim kind of gets caught up in the middle of it as he’s running,” he added. Merrill said Barker started to run as well and got “caught up in the mix.”
Merrill said, “Security moved on this situation extremely quickly. So this is a situation that lasted probably 25 to 30 seconds altogether from beginning to end.”
The B.O.B. security broke up the crowd. Merrill said Barker was slow to get up. However, everyone left the scene before police arrived. Police were later called to Barker’s home in Cascade Township eight hours after the fight. He suffered medical complications and was rushed to Spectrum Hospital where he died. During the brawl, Barker suffered blunt force trauma to the abdomen which led to internal bleeding.
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