Glendale Officer Hurt Breaking Up Bar Fight

A Glendale police officer was hospitalized with a possible concussion Saturday after being struck while breaking up a barroom fight that involved a 215-pound bodybuilder, police said.

Officer Stanley Mar, 24, was in guarded condition at Glendale Adventist Medical Center with possible head injuries, police said. A hospital nursing supervisor said he was in stable condition and would be kept for observation until today.

Glendale police Sgt. Jon Perkins said Mar was injured after he and his partner responded about 10:45 p.m. Friday to a report of an assault at the Rusty Pelican restaurant at 300 Harvey Drive. While the officers were in the parking lot interviewing witnesses and victims of that assault, restaurant patrons came out and reported that another fight had begun inside.

Mar, who is 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs 145 pounds, went inside and radioed for assistance before attempting to subdue one of the combatants, Perkins said. While he was doing so, the other fighter, who weighed 215 pounds, hit Mar in the head, Perkins said.

Police officers who responded to Mar’s call arrested Frank Potter, 25, of Covina on suspicion of felony assault on a police officer. Potter was being held in the Glendale jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The other person involved in the fight was not arrested.