A bar fight broke out during a beer pong tournament early Thursday morning, May 24, at Cy’s Roost, ending in one arrest and at least one injury.

“It escalated a little too much for a beer pong tournament,” one witness said.

Witnesses said the fight broke out in the back room of Cy’s Roost during a beer pong tournament. Witnesses said the fight began when a man was struck in the face.

The man who was struck left Cy’s and went to Paddy’s Irish Pub with his friends. Witnesses said the man who struck the other man followed the group into Paddy’s with his group.

Witnesses said the two groups began to fight again in Paddy’s, with one group breaking bottles. During the fight, John “Teddy” Kirchner received lacerations to the left side of his neck, his left shoulder and his right thumb.

“I could see blood running down my hands,” Kirchner said. “I was scared and knew that I had to get medical attention immediately.”

Police responded to the scene of the fight and found Kirchner bleeding from his lacerations, said Cmdr. Jim Robinson of the Ames Police.

Robinson said witnesses identified the man who injured Kirchner as Wallace Franklin, a former ISU football player who was kicked off the team in June 2009.

As an ISU student, Franklin was arrested three times in a 15 month period, with two of the arrests stemming from fights Franklin was involved in. He was suspended from the football team indefinitely in 2008 and was kicked off the team in 2009. 

Franklin was not at Paddy’s when police arrived, Robinson said. Robinson explained that Franklin was found in a storage room in Cy’s with a bloody nose and no shirt.

Franklin was arrested and charged with willful injury, which is defined by the Iowa Code as an act that is not justified and is intended to cause serious injury to another. Franklin was charged with a class “C” felony, which could be punishable by up to 10 years of imprisonment and a potential fine of $1,000 to $10,000.

Robinson said the investigation is still active.