Ball bat, knife allegedly brandished during parking lot brawl

By Michael R. Moser / mmoser@crossville-chronicle.com

July 18, 2008 11:48 am

— In what witnesses said was a long simmering dispute between parties, a parking lot brawl took place outside a local nightspot during which a ball bat and knife were brandished, according to the combatants. One woman who tried to step between the parties reported she was cut by the knife.
Abe Thomas Collins, 34, 1764 Poplar Dr., is charged with one count of aggravated assault with a weapon and was placed under $10,000 bond.
Edward Eric Lomax, 29, 1177 Sparta Hwy., is charged with the same offense and placed under the same bond. Both men are to appear in Cumberland County General Sessions Court on July 28.
Crossville Police were dispatched to Red Head's Bar on Peavine Rd. Tuesday on a report of a fight in the parking lot around 3:07 a.m. In the parking lot Ptl. Steven Houston was met by Jessica Lee Williams, 19, who told them she had been assaulted by a man who she said entered the bar with two others and started trouble with her boyfriend and her.
However, a statement from another witness reported that the two sides had words earlier in the evening with one side leaving and returning later.
Williams and her boyfriend, identified in the report as being Lomax, went outside and allegedly Collins displayed a knife during the fracas. When Williams stepped between Collins and Lomax, she told the deputy, she was cut on the hand.
Collins claimed during an interview with Houston that Lomax struck him with a ballbat, which Lomax admitted. He added, however, that he was only protecting his lady friend.
The two men were taken to the Justice Center where they were charged. Williams was taken to the emergency room where she was treated for the cut to the hand.