Hot Sauce Toss Sparks Fight Early Saturday in Downtown St. Charles

Two men whom police described as highly intoxicated were cited early Saturday, June 8, 2013, after a police officer driving past the vacant Vertical Drop store stopped his squad and called for backup when he saw a group of people fighting.

Joseph R. Class, 23, of the 600 block of Rosedale Drive, Roselle, and Vito R. Laporta, 23, of the 6N200 block of Linden Avenue, Medinah, each was charged at 1:58 a.m. at West Main and North 2nd streets with fighting, and with disorderly conduct-public drunkenness.

A police report on the incident states that the officer was westbound on Main when he saw the fight. He called for backup and pulled over. Two men ran off as he approached.

The officer then began interviewing two of the victims and Class, and according to the reportm Class interrupted and tried to discredit the statements of the two victims.

Police took Class away and interviewed him separately, and he told police the other two men had started the fight with his two friends and Class. Class told police he did not know the names of his two friends.

The two victims, and the two women with them, were interviewed separately and gave police similar accounts of the incident. They told officers they left The Filling Station, 300 W. Main St., right behind Class and his two friends, whom police identified as Laporta and Ryan Overton, who had taken bottles of hot sauce with them.

As they were walking down the sidewalk, the victims said the three men began throwing the bottles of hot sauce at them, and the victims told the trio to stop. The victims told police Class then approached them, saying, “What are you going to do about it?” and struck one of the men in the face. At that point, the report states, Laporta and Overton began striking the first victim, and the second male victim and two women intervened in an attempt to stop the attack.

The victims declined to press charges, wanting just to go home.

Police cited Class, then found Laporta and Overton on the Main Street Bridge, but they ran off as the officers approached. The chased down Laporta near the St. Charles Police Department, 211 N. Riverside Drive,, who also was cited.

Police were unable to find Overturn, but the report indicates a warrant would be issued for him.

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