One man’s trip to the most magical place on earth ended with him bloodied, bruised, and behind bars earlier this year after he got wasted and made fun of a woman with Down Syndrome, sparking a bar brawl with her family.
Brent George, 61, was arrested and charged with four counts of first-degree battery on the night of Jan. 25 after officers responded to reports of a fight at the Belle Vue Lounge, a 1930s-style speakeasy inside Disney World’s Boardwalk Inn.
An intoxicated George, sporting visible injuries on his face, told the officers that someone in the lounge had just pitched a glass cup at him, according to an affidavit from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Unable to recall specific details about what led up to the seemingly unprovoked assault, George said he’d downed three shots of bourbon and a beer before ambling over to a nearby table occupied by another family.
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“He stated he was having a ‘good time’ with the individuals and then he was attacked by them,” the affidavit explained.
A friend of George’s backed him up, telling police he’d approached the family “because they were ‘having fun.’” The friend said he’d witnessed the glass cup being thrown and overheard someone at the table “say that they wanted to kill him,” according to the affidavit. He claimed George was acting in self-defense.
But Wesley Goldberg, sitting at the table with his family, then told the officers a very different story. He said that George had approached them and started to taunt his sister, a wheelchair-bound woman with Down Syndrome who was not named in the affidavit, “by imitating the grunts that she occasionally made.”
Goldberg’s mother, Candace Goldberg, then stood up and asked George if he was making fun of her daughter. In response, George got up and physically shoved her. When Goldberg’s wife tried to intervene, George slapped her across the face. Goldberg then “got involved,” and traded blows with George before the 61-year-old was grabbed in a bearhug by “an unnamed bystander,” who hustled him from the scene.
The affidavit added that no broken glass was found in the area, “and it is believed no glass cup was utilized in this incident.”
George was handcuffed, arrested, and transported to a local jail without further incident. He spent the night there and was released the next day after his wife paid his $4,000 bond. The Ohio native has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
