Viral video captures chair-throwing brawl at Bayou City Wings

A massive brawl that featured customers heaving chairs at one another inside a Houston-area restaurant went viral after video of the clash was posted on social media.

The brawl broke out at Bayou City Wings on the Gulf Freeway feeder road at Fuqua on Tuesday night.

Operations director Max Thweatt said Friday the company hoped that social media sharing and news coverage will help them determine who is responsible for the brouhaha.

Once the perpetrators are identified, the restaurant plans to press charges, he said.

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"They left with drinks on the tab and damage to the property," Thweatt said. "If you're going to act like that in our environment, we will press charges."

According to the Houston Police Department, the melee began about 10:45 p.m. in the bar area. A man was sitting at the bar eating, when a group came in and sat at a table behind him.

At the group's invitation, the man joined their table but after some conversation, he began to feel uncomfortable and went back to his original seat , HPD spokesman Victor Senties said.

The man went to the restroom, where he exchanged words with someone from the group, Senties said. Later, he was approached again at the bar and was assaulted by the group, at one point getting hit with a stool, Senties said.

Participants in the clash included men and women, with one man shown without his shirt on. Customers seated at tables watched nervously as chairs sailed overhead.

No one was injured during a brawl in which customers threw chairs at each other in the dining room of Bayou City Wings, Gulf Freeway and Fuqua in southeast Houston,Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Cellphone video of the incident was widely shared on social media. less No one was injured during a brawl in which customers threw chairs at each other in the dining room of Bayou City Wings, Gulf Freeway and Fuqua in southeast Houston,Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Cellphone video of ... more Photo: Screen Shot From Video Via Shade Media Photo: Screen Shot From Video Via Shade Media Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Viral video captures chair-throwing brawl at Bayou City Wings 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

Restaurant management immediately expressed regret about the incident.

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"We've done a lot of promoting to get families into our restaurants," Bayou City Wings CEO Charles Bryan told KTRK. "It's now our responsibility to ensure this type of incident doesn't occur again."

Max Thweatt, who has been with the company since 2008, said it was the first time he had ever seen such a brawl. Bayou City Wings has three Houston-area restaurants, he said.

Although the company was initially worried about the public's reaction to the incident, Thweatt said Friday it has proved to be positive.

"We're trying to make sure people understand this is a safe place," he said, noting that the brawl happened late at night when no families with children were present.

Click through the gallery to see screen grabs from cellphone video of the brawl:



