ESPN - Shady's Bar employees: "Victims threw first punch"

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Two employees of the bar where LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson and three teammates are accused of injuring four people in a parking lot brawl say one of the victims "threw the first punch."

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Shady's Bar general manager John Peak and door manager Jordan Neldare told The Associated Press on Thursday versions of the fight that differ from a police report.

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The bar employees say Lowery threw the first punch, "that's one thing we do know."

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Both bar employees said Andrew Lowery, who has been identified by police as one of the victims, was asked to leave the bar around 1:30 a.m. last Friday when he appeared to be harassing a young woman.

Lowery did not challenge Neldare and two other staff members who confronted him, but within minutes of walking into the parking lot, he was in the midst of the fight, the bar employees said.

"What we do know is that Lowery threw the first punch," said Peak, who has interviewed staff about what happened. "That's one thing we do know and we will attest to — and he had been kicked out of the bar."

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Neldare, however, said fighting involving Lowery had already begun when the truck pulled up sharply to the edge of the melee.

"That truck stopped right in the middle of the whole altercation," he said.

Neldare said he had gotten a good look at the beginning of the fight after jumping in the back of a co-worker's pickup truck to get a better view, but his attention was diverted when he saw a fellow employee walking toward the fracas.

Neldare said he ran to the co-worker and corralled him away from the brawl, back toward the bar entrance, where he then noticed Jefferson, standing by himself and looking upset while the fight was still taking place.

"I'm not saying (Jefferson) wasn't in the fight. I'm not saying he was, but I did see him standing alone while stuff was still going on," Neldare said.

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The bar employees' accounts of what happened inside the bar can be seen on security video, which was shown to the AP.

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Neldare said he was outside and witness the fight firsthand, but had not yet been interviewed by police.

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