Hernando County Bar Fight Leads to Parking Lot Pedestrian Accident

Preliminary investigations from the authorities with the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office indicate that a 32-year-old man from Brooksville has been arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he was allegedly involved in a bar fight early Friday morning which subsequently led to him crashing into a group of pedestrians with his vehicle before attempting to flee the scene.

According to responding officers with the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, it was approximately 1:45 a.m. on July 16, 2021, when law enforcement received a 9-1-1 call regarding an argument/altercation at REBAR, a popular local dive bar, located at 10123 Broad Street in Brooksville. Witnesses at the scene say that some sort of disagreement broke out between 32-year-old Michael Murphy and other patrons inside the establishment, and escalated to the point where Murphy was asked to leave the premises due to his belligerent behavior.

Almost immediately after exiting the popular watering hole, 32-year-old Michael Murphy got into his pickup truck and began doing doughnuts in the bar’s parking lot, crashing into multiple vehicles in the process. These dangerous actions garnered an obvious amount of attention from local bystanders who then gathered around to watch the drunken man’s erratic driving. However, things quickly took a turn for the worse as the Brooksville resident turned his pickup toward the growing crowd of pedestrians and crashed into multiple people before attempting to flee the scene down Broad Street. Thankfully, a good samaritan was able to ram the alleged drunk driver with his own vehicle which effectively stopped Murphy in his tracks until he was finally arrested by the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

Emergency response teams arrived at the crash site to find three seriously injured victims requiring medical assistance. One victim was medevaced to a local trauma center for treatment of severe, but non-life-threatening injuries, and the other two victims were taken to local hospitals suffering from broken bone injuries. Although they’re all facing a long road of rehabilitation, everyone is expected to make a successful and full recovery.

Michael Murphy was arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and has been remanded to the Hernando County Detention Center.

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.