“Bar Fight” at the Welcome Inn Ends in Informal Probation and Community Service
Defendants accept an offer to walk away
It started as a routine evening out at a neighborhood bar. It ended with four friends booked into jail in Ukiah — three of them facing felony charges and lives that suddenly seemed just a thread away from unraveling.
But as the cases wound their way through court, they took an unexpected turn. The one friend arrested on a misdemeanor was never formally charged. The three who faced felonies had their charges reduced. Then the district attorney offered all three a plea bargain: 50 hours of community service and 12 months of summary probation, on the condition that they would not consume alcohol to excess in public.
It was a Friday in late August when the group gathered for drinks at the Welcome Inn on East Redwood Avenue in Fort Bragg. As closing time approached, the bartender asked them to leave. They did. But as they drifted outside into the night air, something seemed off.
Security footage from the bar shows 25-year-old Shanna Ray Bayless tugging on her boyfriend, 29-year-old Arion Donn Eagle Kelsey, trying to urge him away from the entrance. Inside, a woman — presumably a bartender — called the police. She told dispatch she wanted to report a fight. When the dispatcher pressed for more details, she admitted she didn’t know any: she hadn’t seen a fight herself, she said. The bar’s security guard had asked her to make the call.
Two officers arrived moments later. What happened next is only partly captured on video. Off camera, two separate struggles unfolded as Sergeant Jarod Frank arrested Kelsey while Officer Antoinette Moore arrested Bayless.
Later that night, in the back of the police vehicle, Kelsey told Zander Garay he reacted instinctively when Frank came up behind him. He said he didn’t realize at first who was grabbing him. They fell to the ground. Frank hit his head. He pulled out his Taser and fired it. Kelsey said he apologized once he recognized the sergeant.
Garay wasn’t around for the arrests — he ended up in the paddy wagon because he stepped outside after hearing the commotion. Standing off to the side, he took out his cellphone and began filming the scene.
Officer Moore asked him to hand over the phone. When he refused, officers arrested him, took the phone, and put him in the police vehicle. The district attorney later declined to file charges against him.
Another friend, Jason Fullbright, was also taken into custody. His arrest was captured on video. In the footage, Fullbright is standing and talking to the officers. He appears to comply as they lead him away.
Still, he was arrested on two felonies — resisting arrest and conspiracy to commit a crime — along with a misdemeanor count of drunk and disorderly conduct.
Bayless faced similar charges before both her and Fullbright’s cases were reduced to misdemeanors.
At first, all three wanted to fight the charges. But the plea bargain offered them a chance to get their lives back on track.
They won’t get a chance to tell their stories from that night to a jury. The footage from the police bodycams will never be shown in a courtroom. But once their probation ends, the friends will be able to expunge the misdemeanor convictions from their records. And the memory of a night when everything went wrong may eventually turn into an example of how even really bad nights can turn out alright in the end.
Mendo Local’s coverage of the Welcome Inn arrests: