ELYRIA — A team of Elyria police officers were assembling to execute a search warrant at the Zulu Motorcycle Club on Broad Street at 2:38 a.m. yesterday when more than 100 people spilled out onto the sidewalks and streets in front of the club and several fights broke out. Officers who assembled to execute a search warrant came to assist the five Elyria police officers on duty who responded to the disturbance call. Councilman-at-Large Kevin Brubaker, who was participating in a ride-along with police early yesterday morning, said it was only 30 seconds before help arrived, but it seemed like forever. “Had there not been that raid, those other 12 or 13 officers would not have been in the vicinity,” Brubaker said. “I was concerned for the officers. The disturbing thing is that the officer I was riding with and two other cars were sitting down there with their lights on, but those people don’t care if there’s three police out there. “With more than 100 people they didn’t care. They just came out and first two women started fighting and then fights broke out everywhere.” This is the second brawl involving more than 100 people in the 500 block of Broad Street in less than two months. Adrian Smith, 18, of 2053 Scott Court, Elyria, was arrested and charged with felonious assault on Valentine’s Day when police say he stabbed 21-year-old Dexter Fields in the neck and left him lying in the entrance way to the Zulu nightclub, 579 Broad St. Smith’s case is still pending in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. With help from the extra officers and the Lorain County Sheriff’s Department, police were able to clear the scene quickly and no one was seriously injured in the melee, police said. Brubaker said there were only two or three police officers staged downtown when the fight began, and if the extra officers had not been in the area to execute the search warrant, the officers on duty would have been outnumbered and “outgunned.” “Our officers operated in a professional manner, but if there had been guns out there, they would have been outgunned,” Brubaker said. “There are always seven or eight officers on patrol in the city and some of them are baby-sitting Broad Street and they shouldn’t have to. “If something happens in another area like out by the mall, say at Harry Buffalo, they’re hard pressed to go because that leaves the city open.” The city laid off 20 full-time staff in the police department last month to stave off a $3 million budget deficit, reducing the minimum manpower in the department to six. Although no police officers were laid off, there is no support staff in the office and the officers have to patrol the streets as well as go back and forth to do office duties. “It’s taking them off patrol duty and safety duty,” Brubaker said, “and we can’t afford to lay off any policemen. The jobs need to be given back, but unfortunately the finances aren’t there.” Six people were arrested as a result of the disturbance. Tolona Higginbotham, 26, of Lorain, was charged with assault on a police officer and aggravated riot. Nykeya Higginbotham, 18, Bratton Higginbotham, 20, and Nasira Mah-Jabeen, 25, all of Lorain, where charged with aggravated riot. Justin Partlow, 25, of Elyria, was charged with aggravated riot, carrying a concealed weapon and obstructing official business. Quinton Lovett, 26, of Elyria, was charged with aggravated riot, possession of cocaine, possession of paraphernalia and resisting arrest. Police did execute the search warrant as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal liquor sales and gambling at the Zulu Motorcycle Club. Police ran checks on all 45 club members and patrons inside the club. Officers seized beer, liquor, a gun, a small amount of marijuana and a slot machine. Three members of the Zulu Motorcycle Club were arrested. Edward Raiford, 33, of Cleveland; Rodney Jackson, 33, of Bedford Heights; and Rodger Parker, 35, of Cleveland Heights, all were charged with keeping a place where beer and intoxicating liquor are furnished in violation of law and action prohibited without permit, and unauthorized source of liquor. Ralph Tidmore, 28, of Cleveland, and Alexis Charlton, 20, of Elyria, who were both patrons in the club when police executed the search warrant, were arrested on unrelated charges. Tidmore had a bench warrant through the city of Rocky River and Charlton was charged with theft, receiving stolen property, forgery and contempt of court.
