What started as a late-night dispute over a bar tab at an Orlando dive bar ended in bloodshed, police say, after a bartender allegedly stabbed a patron 10 times in the face and back of the head.
The suspect, identified by police as 30-year-old Jason Rosario, has been arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder, according to the jail website.
Investigators say Rosario had been working the bar at Grumpy’s Underground when an argument broke out over a tab. The fight spilled into an alley, where the men exchanged punches before Rosario allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim 10 times.
The injured patron then stumbled back into the bar, while Rosario is said to have fled the scene.
Officers were alerted around 5:36 a.m. on August 31, when a woman with blood on her hands flagged them down and told them she had just witnessed a fight behind the bar, according to an Orange County arrest affidavit obtained by FOX35.
The woman said she heard two men fighting by a dumpster but did not see the brawl directly. When one of the men brushed past her and told her “someone was stabbed,” she realized the blood on her hands had come from one of them.
While she was speaking with officers, the bar’s owner, Amanda Fields, walked up and said, “Saucy stabbed someone, and it’s not OK.”
In an interview with FOX35, Fields later explained the argument was over a bar tab and that it escalated into physical violence.
“The guy with the tab left,” she said. “He left the building, he went home, but his best friend stayed behind and just argued with the two, kept arguing. I kicked everybody out. I thought everybody had left for the night and about an hour went by, maybe a half an hour to an hour and the next thing I know somebody came in injured.”
Fields clarified that Rosario was not an official employee but had trained with them in the past and because it was busy that night, jumped in to help.
“He worked in maybe six months, like twice, but he was never hired on because he wasn’t a good fit to begin with,” she said.
“But he never did anything violent or anything. He just, not a big smile or anything. I cooperated fully, and I wanted him put in jail, because it’s just not OK.”
The victim who was stabbed is expected to recover from his injuries, police said. His identity was not released.
Rosario was later taken into police custody and is being held at the Orange County jail without bond.
