By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Saturday, March 15, 2008, 12:15 a.m. -- Two men were injured about midnight Friday after a fight erupted at Don W's Bar and Grill, 611 North Third Street in Bardstown.

Police and Nelson County EMS were first called to the bar at 11:49 p.m. for a fight in progress. A caller reported someone had been injured in a fight involving approximately 15 people.

Bardstown police units arrived promptly and the fight ended. No arrests were made, and no one wanted treatment by the EMS ambulance. The responding EMS squad was canceled and police officers left the scene.

Once officers were out of sight it didn't take long for the combatants to rekindle their feud. Within minutes the fight resumed in the parking lot. A caller at the bar said broken bottles were being used as weapons in the fight.

Police officers and an ambulance were dispatched at about 12:03 a.m. to return to the bar. According to reports from the scene, one man was suffering from head wounds, a second man was suffering from what were described as deep stab wounds in the abdomen.

Nelson County EMS transported one victim to Flaget Memorial Hospital. The man with the stab wounds refused treatment. Bardstown police arrested two men involved in the fight who were lodged in the Nelson County Jail.

Not long after EMS arrived at Flaget with their patient from the fight, Flaget employees called Nelson County Dispatch to request police officers to come to the ER.

Flaget reported that individuals who were injured in the brawl at Don W's were now arriving at the ER seeking treatment of their wounds. Hospital employees were concerned that having the fight participants in close proximity at the ER would lead to another fight.

"Flaget advises they are unable to respond if the fight were to break out again," the dispatcher told responding officers.

Discussion among city police officers indicated they believed they had the two main suspects from the fight in custody. One officer told the other city officers that the participants arriving at the ER would not be considered suspects and indicating he believed the ER arrivals were unlikely to start a fight.

Flaget's relocation means it takes city police officers more time to respond to calls from the hospital. In the event of a violent patient, it leaves hospital staff and ER staff to fend for themselves until police can get there.

In the last six months, the hospital staff has had to call for police help repeatedly, particularly in the evenings, to help handle unruly patients, including one patient who repeatedly left the hospital against medical advice dressed in his hospital gown.