The curse of St. Patrick’s Day has struck Culver City again — a stabbing for the second year in a row involving patrons of a nearby bar. Last year’s accused assailant, Justin Finizza, arrested one week later, remains incarcerated this afternoon under $1 million bail.
Last night’s culprit(s) remains at-large.
A young man who had been observing the most sacred ritual associated with St. Patrick’s Day, swallowing a libation in the firewater family, was stabbed early this morning after routinely leaving Joxer Daly’s Irish pub.
According to sources, “a Hispanic young adult,” not identified by name, accompanied by a companion, left the pub a little after 1 a.m.
Minutes later, walking along nearby Commonwealth Avenue, a tiny and poorly lighted street, the pair were reported to have been set upon by a number of men believed to have been smoldering over an earlier dispute.
One of the assailants lunged at the victim with a knife. He inflicted possibly as many as 5 wounds, none regarded as life-threatening. After the victim was hospitalized, it was not clear whether he had been discharged.
Suspects at-Large
A day later, the commotion around Joxer Daly’s was difficult to miss at mid-day, what with police detectives retracing the grounds, swaths of which were yellow-taped as out-of-bounds. Undercover cops were reported in the background, eying suspicious parties.
Ilast evening was the Night of the Year at Joxer Daly’s. Happy, whooping-it-up imbibers flooded the scene, even as St. Patrick’s Day technically died at midnight.
City Councilman Mehaul O’Leary, owner of the pub, flung open the doors wider than he does on any other occasion.
Being that it was St. Patrick’s Day and that he is a native of Dublin, Mr. O’Leary set up a special patio at the rear of Joxer Daly’s, virtually doubling his capacity to nearly 200 celebrants.
“First time something like this has happened in my 9 years here,” Mr. O’Leary told the newspaper this morning.
“When we have a crowd like this,” he said, “I want to believe that everyone is happy, everyone is having a good time. I believe I am astute enough to detect if anything is wrong.
“But this? This came out of the blue.”
Late in the evening, Mr. O’Leary was shmoozing with the victim-to-be, which he described as a markedly pleasant exchange.
Uncertain what ignited the attack, the Councilman speculated that it was a volcanic blend of a girl, booze and unrestrained testosterone.
Drawing on his years of experience as a bar-side referee for disputants, Mr. O’Leary said he is an alumnus of the Old School, man against man, dead even.
“You have a disagreement with a guy,” he said, “you settle it by giving him a clatter,” which turns out to be fisticuffs.
“No knives. No weapons at all. That changes everything.”
