WICKER PARK — A man who videotaped a fight involving several people outside the Crocodile bar on Milwaukee Avenue said the clash — which involved a mop and featured one man falling through a huge storefront window — was "pretty crazy."
Wicker Park resident Mike Block, who lives in an apartment in the building next door to the lounge at 1540 N. Milwaukee, said he was "awoken by people arguing" early Monday morning.
He filmed the fight from his fourth-floor window. The video, which lasts more than three minutes, shows at least six people arguing in the middle of the street outside the lounge.
During the brawl, one participant grabs what appears to be a mop from what Block described as a "passing homeless man" and uses it to hit someone. The mop gets snatched away by another person in the fight, who turns it on someone else.
The fight moves across the street and a man is seen falling into and shattering a window at John Fluevog Shoes. That man gets up and rejoins the fight.
About two minutes into the video, police arrived in an unmarked car and break up the brawl.
Police would not immediately comment on the incident Wednesday.
Block, 26, uploaded the video to YouTube. It was later posted to Reddit.
"This is only the 2nd craziest fight I've seen in front of the Crocodile Bar in Wicker Park," Block wrote about the incident.
Back in October, Block said he saw a fight end with a fender bender when groups of people arguing got into two cars and tried to make their getaways but crashed into one another instead.
"It's a pretty loud neighborhood," said Block.
John Fluevog manager Bekkie Lohr said the store's alarm company called about 1 a.m. Monday to warn them that a window had been broken. By the next day, the window had been fixed.
"I don't think this is Crocodile's fault," said Lohr, who blamed this week's fight on customers at Crocodile "who don't know how to behave."
It's the second time a window of the store has been shattered within a month, Lohr said. On March 10, there was an apparent break-in at the store that shattered a window, though nothing was taken.
"It's kind of routine now," Lohr said of rowdy incidents on the block.
A manager at Crocodile did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
