A brawl on the 6700 block of Del Playa Drive on Saturday morning resulted in the incarceration of one man on a charge of battery and another for making criminal threats.

When Isla Vista Foot Patrol officers arrived at the scene of the incident at about 1:48 a.m., they found a large crowd of people surrounding a group of men. The officers identified two of the men in the group – Brenden Louis Nicholson, 19, and James Terrell Fountain III, 18 – as matching the description of suspects in the battery report to which they were responding. The men appeared to pose a threat to bystanders, so the officers ordered them to sit down.

Fountain did not comply until officers had drawn their guns and ordered him to lie on the ground. Both men were detained.

IVFP received a call from a 21-year-old woman – an off-duty Community Service Organization officer – whose name is being withheld to prevent retaliation from her alleged attackers. She said she had been watching a man attempt to pick fights with partygoers on Del Playa that night. She allegedly attempted to stop the man when she saw him repeatedly kick an unidentified victim in the head. At that time, she said the man punched her in the face and put her in a headlock. During the scuffle, Nicholson allegedly told the woman that he would kill her.

A witness to the attack on the CSO officer, whose name is also being withheld, said he had been punched in the face by Fountain. When police arrived at the scene, he performed a citizen’s arrest on Fountain for battery.

During their interviews at the IVFP station, however, Nicholson and Fountain gave a different account of the night’s events.

Nicholson said his interaction with the woman began when he saw her scratch the face of a third, unidentified man who was wearing a Cardinals jacket. He said he asked the woman, “How would you feel if he was doing that to you?” The woman allegedly responded, “Shut up.” Nicholson said he never threatened to kill the woman.

Fountain also told officers he saw the off-duty CSO scratch the face of the third man but never heard Nicholson threaten her life.

A second witness said he recognized the jacket-clad man as the person who stole his afro wig as he walked down Sueno Road that night. He said after his wig was stolen the man pushed him into a fence and headed towards Del Playa. The witness followed him from Sueno to the scene of the battery incident where he reported the theft to officers.

The third man has yet to be identified by the IVFP.

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