Two arrested for New Year's brawl in Mitchell

Two women have been arrested in connection with an early morning fight on New Year’s Day in an alleyway behind a bar in downtown Mitchell.

A news release issued Friday afternoon by the Mitchell Police Division says two Mitchell residents, 24-year-old Melissa Kay Larvie and 25-year-old Amber Nicole Thalman, were arrested Friday and charged in connection with the brawl, which authorities say occurred in the 400 block of North Main Street in the west alleyway behind the Moonlight Bar and Lounge and involved as many as 14 people.

Larvie is charged with one count of aggravated assault and one count of simple assault for allegedly throwing a brick that struck one woman in the face and punching another woman, the release says.

Larvie faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine if convicted of aggravated assault, a felony, and a maximum of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine for simple assault, a misdemeanor.

Thalman is charged with simple assault for allegedly kicking a man who was on the ground during the altercation. She faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted.

In an interview Friday with The Daily Republic, Mitchell Police Detective Lt. Don Everson declined to release many details of the investigation, but said Larvie is believed to have instigated the fight.

It remains possible more arrests could be made in the case because the investigation is ongoing, Everson said.

“These are the people we know committed crimes for sure right now,” he said. “There are still other people we’re trying to locate.”

It appears several people involved were in the Moonlight Bar prior to the fight, Everson said.

In posts made Thursday by Shannon Foster, the owner of the Moonlight Bar, on the bar’s Facebook page, Foster objected to the Moonlight Bar being mentioned in The Daily Republic’s initial report Thursday on the incident.

She wrote that the people involved in the fight were never at her bar.

“I consider myself to be very conscientious about what goes on in my place of business and to make sure that people are safe in my establishment,” Foster wrote. “I pay people to make sure this is the case.”

An email and two calls made to Foster — one to the Moonlight Bar and another to a private number Foster listed in an earlier email to The Daily Republic — were not immediately returned Friday after-noon.

Beyond the two women who are charged, authorities have not released the names of other people involved in the incident, but Everson said the adult woman struck by a brick suffered a lip laceration and other minor injuries. Others involved in the incident also suffered minor injuries, the release says.

According to Davison County Jail Administrator Don Radel, Larvie remained in jail Friday afternoon with bond set at $5,000. Her court date has not yet been scheduled, Radel said.

Thalman was released on her own recognizance with a court date set for later this month, Radel said.

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