Pike's Pub Attack: What we know now

UPDATE: CHARGES against Kent Adamonis were dropped Friday. Sources have indicated who the sixth attacker really was, but until there confirmation either from the Allen County Sheriff's Department or online court records, The Probable Cause will not publish his name.

Please check back for more information!

ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. ---The Allen County Sheriff's Department has rounded up six  suspects accused of attacking a Black man at Pike’s Pub in Waynedale in May.

The men, all wearing jackets or T-shirts identifying them as members of The Outlaws Motorcycle Club, were seen beating James Simmons in an amateur video posted online. It caught fire on social media, locally and nationally.

Doug Zuber

“It was a lot of coordination and groundwork to locate and arrest all of them,” ACSD public information officer Kenneth Litzenberg wrote to The Probable Cause. “Our detectives, warrants officers, Drug Task Force and the other agencies that helped us out really did a great job. I am awfully proud of everyone that pitched in and apprehended all of them quickly and safely.”

Thursday, the men’s mugshots started to appear on the sheriff’s website, one after the other, prompting people to look them up online, researching to see if any of the six had a criminal record.

Jerrad Impton

For the attack on the victim, James Simmons, that occurred May 30 around 11 p.m., their charges include Level 5 battery with serious bodily injury and misdemeanor criminal recklessness.  One suspect has an additional charge for strangulation.

Bond was set at $10,000. A Felony 5 carries a sentence of between one and six years upon conviction.

For anyone reading this from outside the country, The Outlaws are a motorcycle gang taken seriously by the U.S. Department of Justice:

Ryan Minick

“The Hells Angels, Mongols, Bandidos, Outlaws, and Sons of Silence pose a serious national domestic threat and conduct the majority of criminal activity linked to OMGs, especially activity relating to drug-trafficking and, more specifically, to cross-border drug smuggling. Because of their transnational scope, these Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs  are able to coordinate drug smuggling operations in partnership with major international drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs).

There are more than 300 active OMGs within the United States, ranging in size from single chapters with five or six members to hundreds of chapters with thousands of members worldwide.” 

Justin Wert

Those arrested include Douglas Zuber, 66, Jerrad Impton, 52, Ryan Anthony Minick, 44, and Christopher Yoho, all of Fort Wayne. The sixth arrestee, Justin Wert, 35, resides in Churubusco, according to court documents.

A news release on the sheriff’s website described the intense manhunt for the six who were taken into custody “in just over 24 hours of the warrants being issued.”

“One suspect was arrested while delivering materials to a tank plant in Lima, Ohio. Another was taken into custody at his workplace in Huntington County. Three others were apprehended at either their place of employment or residence in Allen County. The final suspect was found hiding at a lake property in Steuben County,” the release stated.

Numerous agencies participated in the roundup: Allen County Adult Probation, Allen County Prosecutor’s Office, Steuben County Sheriff's Department, New Haven Police Department, Shawnee Township (Ohio) Police Department, Auburn Police Department, Fort Wayne Police Department, Indiana State Police, Huntington Police Department, U.S. Army Military Police Corps (Lima, Ohio), and the FBI.

A probable cause affidavit written by Det. Corporal Keith Wallin went into detail about the incident.

While the owner of the bar, Kelley Ruse, wasn’t there for the attack, Zuber was. Zuber claimed Simmons was drunk and was “badgering” him to shut down the bar mid-week for a karaoke night. Zuber said he asked him to “pay and leave the bar.” Simmons had already been cut off, he said.

The battery occurred when Simmons started toward the door instead of paying his tab, Zuber said in court documents.

But Zuber, identified as the owner’s boyfriend and “the money behind the bar,” was also involved in the beating.

After shoving Simmons back towards the bar, Zuber is heard cheering on the attackers.

“Beat that mo———er! Beat that f—-ing n*******r up! Beat him! Beat him! Beat that n******r’s ass!”

Hearing those words on the video, people in Fort Wayne called it a hate crime. Indiana statute does not have a  hate crime law, according to Allen County Prosecutor Michael McAlexander.

Ryan Minick was identified in a Crime Stoppers tip as "that short white man with the Outlaw jacket......and is the main one that assaulted, punched, kicked in the face, kicked in the side, that black man at Pike's Pub."

Minick is the one who confronted Simmons at the bar and "aggressively pointed his finger at James." When James, much taller and bigger than Minick, tries to walk past Minick, Minick blocks him, then pushes him. Minick was one who punched him and then placed his hands on or near Simmons' neck, court documents said.

Justin Wert was described as “bald headed with a full beard” and identified through a tip from Crime Stoppers.

“That bald man that threw the first punch is Justin Wert. He lives in Avilla and is a member of the Outlaws,” the tipster wrote. 

Court documents said the battery “eventually ends up going to the ground where Wert has James in a headlock while other members wearing ‘Outlaw’ attire kick and punch James.” Simmons told Wallin that his breathing was impaired because of the pressure Wert applied to his neck. Wert was also charged with strangulation.

FWPD officer Jeff Ripley who has “expertise with Outlaw gang members,” identified Wert and others in the video.

Christopher Yoho was the one who threw a chair at Simmons while the others were beating him on the ground, court documents said. 

Yoho “grabbed James from behind ripping James’ yellow safety vest from his torso.” 

Nosey Neighbors, a Facebook source for local news and gossip, helped identify Jerrad Impton with the tip “I see you James Impton.” Impton also threw a punch at the back of Simmons’ head when the battery started.

FWPD homicide detective Nicholas Lichtsinn also identified Impton, because of a prior police involvement, court documents said.

[to be added] threw punches while he was on top of Simmons and kicked Simmons while he was being held down.

Simmons was interviewed a few days after the assault. His injuries included a broken blood vessel in his eye, a “significant” cut on his tongue, contusions and a head injury. 

The night of the assault he was taken to the hospital. and released, but had to return for additional medical attention for his tongue.

He told Wallin he couldn’t breathe because of the chokehold, an injury that sometimes can take years to manifest further damage, including a stroke. His back and legs were sore and he had skin scraped off his right forearm.

Simmons also needed to see an eye doctor for followup on the broken blood vessel.

Now that the six attackers have been identified and charged, community activist Bri Andrews praised law enforcement, but called for justice.

"I am very thankful to law-enforcement for committing the necessary time needed to make arrests and begin charging the individuals that are guilty of attacking James. I am thankful to the community for applying the necessary pressure needed to make sure that these arrests were made. I think it’s very important to celebrate the small wins, but I want us to remember that the true win needed here is for justice to be brought to fruition through not only arrests being made, charges being filed, but also sentencing, and jail time served. There have been far too many examples of unequal sentencing within our criminal justice system."

Andrews also disputes the narrative that Zuber offered to explain the attack.

“Nothing that they’re saying is actually true regarding what led up to the brutal attack. He was never trying to get out of paying his tab. He was up there at the counter, attempting to pay his tab however, he began backing up from the counter while he was still waiting for his tab at the time (it had still not come) because they were circling around him, telling him to go on get and using the N-word in his ear and he has social anxiety, so (he) began to back up and walk away because of the high-pressure situation. Then all of a sudden they began yelling no you’re going to pay your tab and then the attack began to take place, “ Andrews said.

“We are thankful for the meaningful steps towards progress made but it can’t stop here. We want true justice and that means arrests, charges, sentencing, and jail time for all of them involved in attacking James Simmons.”

Allen County Sheriff Troy Hershberger said there was “no place for violence like this in our community,” and noted “this case shows how law enforcement agencies working together can achieve fast results.”