P.T.’s closes after violent fight

This story has been changed from its previous version to correct an editing error regarding arrest penalties. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error

A Chapel Hill restaurant and bar has closed its doors after a staff Christmas party ended in violence.

P.T.’s Olde Fashioned Grille, located at the corner of Rosemary and Henderson streets, shut down in early January after assault charges were made against owner Ryan Scarano by employee Andrew Anagnost.

The restaurant will remain closed until another tenant is found, said Lubin Bullard Jr., who owns the building with his son Norman.

“I’ve heard that (the owner) got into some trouble, and as a result of that we kicked the tenant out,” Bullard said.

P.T.’s held a Dec. 12 Christmas party at The Crunkleton on West Franklin Street before the restaurant closed for an annual two-week holiday break, Anagnost said.

After the bar closed at 2 a.m., Scarano took Anagnost and another employee back to P.T.’s for drinks, Anagnost said and a former P.T.’s employee confirmed.

Anagnost said the owner insulted him, and he responded by calling Scarano a racist.

The conflict escalated.

“Ryan tackled me off the bar stool I was sitting on and put his knee in my abdomen,” Anagnost said. “He was holding me down screaming.”

Scarano declined to comment.

Anagnost said the next thing he remembers is pain.

“I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I was rolling around vomiting blood,” he said.

Anagnost was taken to the hospital for intoxication at around 2:30 a.m.

Nearly 24 hours later, doctors discovered that his bladder had burst during the fight, Anagnost said.

The injury could have been potentially fatal, he said.

“They thought I was just being an annoying drunk kid,” he said. “When I was loaded into the ambulance Ryan just told them I had too much to drink, so they had no idea that I had been injured.”

Anagnost spent five days at UNC Hospitals receiving treatment for a ruptured bladder before being released.

He said he then returned home to his parents’ house for two weeks.

“I had a catheter in for 15 days and an abdominal drain in for 13 days draining blood and fluid,” he said.

“But it seems like this is going to take months and months to fully recover from.”

Anagnost filed a police report with the Chapel Hill Police Department in early January, Chapel Hill Police Officer Rick Ennis said.

Scarano was charged with felony assault resulting in serious injury.

He could face penalties ranging from a written promise to appear in court to a bond requiring payment, Ennis said.

There is an outstanding warrant out for Scarano’s arrest, Ennis said as of 3 p.m. Friday.

Anagnost said he has not yet decided if he will sue Scarano. But he doesn’t know how he will pay his medical bills.

“I don’t want to spend more time in a court than I have to, but I have a lot of medical bills to pay and my health insurance company doesn’t want to cover me anymore,” he said.

“It’s a serious decision to make.”

Bullard said he and his son are currently looking for a new business to lease the Henderson Street building.

“It may continue as a P.T.’s, or it may be something under a different name that’s a lot like P.T.’s.”

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.