Police are looking into reports that a group of San Diego State University men's basketball players attacked a patron at a local nightclub early Saturday morning.
Jeffrey Layno claims a group of basketball players attacked him inside the popular Stingaree nightclub in the Gaslamp, police said. Layno filed a complaint with the San Diego Police Department about 17 hours later, according to SDPD Det. Gary Hassen. On Monday afternoon, however, Layno said he decided not to press charg
Staff at the nightclub said the altercation was minor and they didn't expect the situation to get out of hand.
"This incident was such a small incident, that I wasn't even told about it until it kind of became an incident," said Stingaree owner James Brennan.
"The fella who claims to be assaulted, he had a girlfriend or girl he was with, she wound up dancing with a couple other guys, [and] he seemed to get upset about that, whether he was jealous or whatever else," Brennan said. "[He] started stepping into the middle of it, fingers were pointed, you know one thing leads to another, a couple shoves happen, a bit of a scuffle ensues from there."
Brennan says the players were not drinking heavily.
"My staff had clearly stated that none of them seemed even close to over-intoxicated," Brennan said.
Police had said they were going to investigate the incident but the matter was dropped after Layno decide to drop the charges.
Men's basketball fans hope this won't affect the team’s performance on the court.
"If they're actually accused of doing that, then it would effect the team I assume," said SDSU student Jazmine Graham. "I hope it doesn't effect the team cause they need to win."
The allegations come as the SDSU basketball team makes its debut in the national spotlight. For the first time in the school's history, the men's basketball team has been ranked 25th in the AP's pre-season poll.
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SDSU says they're aware of the incident and that some players were at Stingaree that night. School officials also said they had launched an internal investigation into incident to determine if disciplinary actions are warranted.
Many San Diego sports figures have spent time at the popular Stingaree nightclub, for some the hotspot has been the place where some of their troubles have started.
Former Chargers star Shawne Merriman was at the nightclub just hours before he was accused of choking reality TV star Tila Tequila.
