The bar owner and five bouncers roughed him up. When the young clubgoer escaped, they followed him across the street and kicked him in the face.
Melissa Bailey Photo
That’s how police described the beating of a bar patron, recorded on videotape, outside the Alchemy Nightclub on Crown Street last February. Alchemy owner Rommerro Farrah was charged with first-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment for his role in the attack. He was released after posting a $100,000 bond.
The bar owner doesn’t deny being involved in the fight. But his lawyer said there’s more to the story, and he doesn’t deserve to go to jail.
Farrah, who’s 50, appeared in Superior Court on Elm Street Friday poised to resolve his case.
But after his alleged victim objected, he ended up on a path toward a jury trial, where he faces up to 20 years behind bars.
“They nearly killed me,” said his alleged victim, Steven Lunn, in an interview in court Friday. He said he was punched, kicked in the face, and strangled until he passed out, while his attackers told him to “Go to sleep, little boy.”
Lunn’s nose was broken when Farrah “stomped on his face,” according to his attorney, Alexander Scheirer. Lunn said he still can’t breathe through his nose and needs surgery to fix it. He has been doggedly following Farrah’s case ever since the assault on Feb. 1, 2009. He said he’s bent on seeing his attacker brought to justice.
Not So Fast
Farrah showed up in Courtroom A Friday morning wearing a suit and carrying a bright yellow file folder. His graying hair was neatly trimmed. The bar owner, who lives in West Hartford, has no prior criminal record.
He tried to resolve the charges against him through a program for first-time offenders called accelerated rehabilitation (AR).
Under AR, defendants pay $135 and get a probation period of between one day and two years. If the defendant completes the probation period with good behavior, then the case gets wiped off his or her record. In applying for AR, a defendant doesn’t admit guilt, but acknowledges that the charges could result in imprisonment.
Farrah applied for AR on Jan. 29. On Friday, Judge Bruce Thompson was set to rule on his request.
But Lunn didn’t let Farrah shake the case that easily. He came to court poised to object to the AR application, on the grounds that the attack was too brutal, and the defendant did not have “good cause” to be granted AR.
Lunn, a small man in his early 20s, appeared in court wearing jeans and chic, square-toe dress shoes. He walked into court with Marissa Bigelli, an attorney from Scheirer’s office. He was prepared to make the case against Farrah. He said the attack has affected him physically — he doesn’t sleep well at night because he can’t breathe through his nose — and psychologically, too.
“I’m always constantly looking over my shoulder when I’m out,” he said.
Lunn said he has showed up to every court date since Farrah was arrested on March 15, 2009. He didn’t get to testify Friday, after all.
Farrah and his attorney, John Carta, made a brief appearance before Judge Thompson around 10:45 a.m. Carta asked Judge Thompson for permission to withdraw his request for AR, without prejudice, in light of discussions with the victim’s attorney. The judge granted his request and set a new court date for March 18.
After court, Carta said his client withdrew the request because he knew the judge wouldn’t grant AR if the victim objected. He said he’ll first try to work out a settlement to pay the victim’s medical bills. If they fail to strike a deal, the case would head to a jury trial, Carta said.
Friday was Farrah’s second attempt to resolve the case. His lawyer earlier moved to dismiss the case, because the state had not produced a videotape of the incident. Then the state turned over the tape, and his client switched tracks and applied for AR.
Attorney Bigelli, who represented Lunn in court Friday, said her client opposed to AR in part because the attack was so brutal. It was very forceful, she said, and it happened not just once, but twice.
A Police Account
The police report bears out that description. Officer Peter Krause investigated the case after Lunn called to report the incident about 14 hours after the assault. Based on interviews with Lunn and another witness, and after viewing the videotape, Krause identified Farrah as one of the attackers and arrested him on March 15. No one else was arrested in the assault.
Here’s what happened, according to Krause’s police report:
Krause got a call from Lunn at 4:25 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2009. Lunn reported being attacked at 2:45 a.m. that day, as a party was winding down at Club Elevate at 215 Crown St., the after-hours club affiliated with and adjacent to Alchemy Nightclub. Lunn told police he and his friends were ejected from Club Elevate, and as they were leaving, staff members slapped Lunn several times. The fight then spilled out into the street. Lunn reported being attacked by “six to seven Club Elevate staff members” in the north lane of Crown Street, outside Club Elevate.
When Lunn ran to the other side of the street to get away, the bouncers followed him, according to the report. Lunn was again attacked by the same group.
Lunn was “knocked to the ground and then kicked in the face by Romero, the owner of Club Elevate,” Krause’s report reads. Lunn suffered cuts to his face, swelling and bruising, and a broken nose in the “brutal attack.”
The entire post-bar beating was recorded by a surveillance camera at Club Oracle across the street, Krause wrote. Club Oracle turned over the tape to the cops. Krause watched the tape. It shows Lunn attacked by six males, including one 5‑foot-8-inch man whom Krause recognized as “Romero” from the club scene, according to the police report.
The video shows “Romero” and the posse of men following Lunn across the street after the first beating, according to Krause. “Romero” was active in both assaults. In the second attack, the video shows “Romero” punching and kicking the victim, Krause wrote.
Krause also took testimony from a woman who said she was at the scene that night. And he checked with police and found out that the ‘Romero’ he recognized from the video was Rommerro Farrah, the owner of Alchemy Nightclub and Club Elevate.
Attorney Scheirer said the video is quite graphic. He said he was “taken aback” when he watched it.
Video footage shows Lunn lying on the ground in a fetal position while six men attacked him, Scheirer said.
“I feared for my life,” said Lunn Friday.
“They strangled me and choked me until I passed out,” he said. “They were telling me, ‘Go to sleep, little boy,’ ‘Go to sleep, little boy.’”
Farrah’s attorney, Carta, declined to address those allegations, but indicated there was more to the story. He said the fight began inside the club, where Lunn refused bouncers’ orders to leave.
“There was a lot more than what was in the police report,” Carta said.
He said his client was unfairly singled out. Bar fights “happen all the time,” he said, but usually, all parties are arrested — including whoever claims to be a victim.
“I don’t know why they cherry-picked and just picked one guy,” Carta said.