Brawl at Mayfair Mall

It took a few days for this story to get out, but the most recent disturbance at Mayfair Mall has gone national.

Why? There's video, and it's incredible.

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An argument between two young men inside Mayfair Mall quickly became a series of physical fights that resulted in damage to a clothing store and took shoppers by surprise.

Three men in their early 20s have been issued municipal citations for disorderly conduct for their part in the fight.

According to a Wauwatosa police:

Two men were arguing outside of the Wet Seal clothing store at 5:53 p.m. Dec. 26, when one of the men punched the other one in the face. They pushed and fought their way into the store within seconds.

"It was just a fight that rolled over into the store," Lt. Dominic Leone said. "Then other fights broke out and soon it seemed like three different fights were going on at one time. The place was a mess."

While the fight lasted only a little more than one minute, the more than half-dozen people who got involved helped turn the store upside down, and the store was forced to close temporarily so employees could clean up the sales floor, Leone said.

The two men who started the fight and one man who joined it later were arrested.

More, from TMJ 4:

A big brawl breaks out at Mayfair Mall and it's all caught on tape. It happened the day after Christmas.

Some of the shoppers who showed up at Mayfair Mall last Friday looking for bargains, got a lot more than they bargained for. They found themselves in the middle of a brawl right in the middle of the mall.

The big-time brawl happened inside the "Wet Seal" teen clothing store at Mayfair Mall last Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year. It left the store in shambles and shoppers stunned.

...Wauwatosa police say the video shows Areinio Green lunged at another man and punched him in the face. A fight that spilled into the store where a half dozen more people jumped in as store employees and customers looked on-seemingly in disbelief-before running for the door.

...Police don't know exactly what started the fight-but wound up arresting Green and two other Milwaukee men, Christopher Silah and Andre Thomas.

Dash-cam video shows Tosa Police looking for Thomas who police say jumped in his car after the fight, ditched it and then took off on foot. Police caught him within minutes.

All three men arrested were sighted for disorderly conduct and released. Despite the size of the fight, no one was seriously hurt. After watching the video, Tosa Police says it stands by its decision not to send the case to the DA.

Brawl video, from TMJ 4.



One of the thugs involved in the brawl did an interview with TMJ 4's Lauren Leamanczyk.



According to Andre Thomas, the fight stemmed from an argument several months ago on a basketball court between a group of guys and his cousin. They ran into each other at the mall.

ANDRE THOMAS: It's not a good decision to participate in any fights. You know what I'm saying? But when there's a crowd of people, you know what I'm saying, beating up someone you've been with for a long time, you know, since you were a baby, I mean, what can you do?

Leamanczyk reports that Thomas wonders why security didn't step in.

THOMAS: There was about 4 or 5 guards there, you know what I'm saying, just watching the fight.

Of course.

Blame mall security for what happened rather than the thugs engaged in the fight.

Sure.

Why didn't Thomas approach security and ask for help? If he took the time to count the guards watching the fight, he could have taken the time to demand assistance for his relative.

Nonetheless, according to Leamanczyk, Thomas does take responsibility for his actions.

THOMAS: I apologized to all of the people that came to the precinct and I wrote a letter. I apologized to the people, and I apologized to the people in the mall.

It looks like there was plenty of damage done in the store. And it had to close its doors for more than an hour on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Disorderly conduct citations are no more than a slap on the wrist. I think Tosa police should have sent the case to the DA. It's a big mistake to not take this sort of behavior more seriously.