Are restaurant/bars responsible for containing individuals who commit injury?

[want own biz]

resident of Virginia, incident occured in Washington D.C.

I was thrown to the floor at a bar because I had been talking to a person's girlfriend. No words were exchanged between myself and the man who threw me. In fact, He grabbed me from behind and pushed me to the floor. As a result, I had a large cut in the back of my head and was carried away in an ambulance. They were able to contain the individual, but then let him go.

My cut was tended to and the police came and filed a report. They have an investigator on the case, but the most likely result is that they will not be able to find the person. I'm highly upset that the restaurant did not attempt to contain this individual. Is it the restaruant/bar's responsibility to contain this person? I know many of these matters go unresolved because it is in a bar setting with drinks being served. It almost seems as if with drinking, individuals can get away with crimes.

Any feedback would be highly appreciated.

[xylene]

You should consult with a personal injury lawyer.

They can tell you based on the exact facts if you have a case against the bar.

[justsomeguy]

I can tell you from my experience working as head of security at a large night club, there are alot of rules regarding making a citizens arrest. In order to detain a person against their will you must arrest them, otherwise it is illegal to hold a person against their will.

The bar or nightclub is not "required" to make the citizens arrest any more than any other citizen would be, and unless they have trained their staff by local authorities, and are prepared to do it legally, it is HIGHLY unlikely they would detain anyone as a company policy. Too much risk. We took lots of classes, had handcuffs and a large security staff, and made arrests every weekend. Also, we could only hold a person for so long, (4 hours in our case) after that if a police officer did not respond to take posession of them, we had to let them go.

You might ask around at the bar/resteraunt and see if they got any information on the person, or if they know who it was, it is possible they did.

Best of luck to you.