Man bit off security guard’s ear at embattled West Side bus station
Columbus Ohio January 27, 2024
A man bit off part of a security guard’s ear at a West Side gas station plagued by safety complaints, Columbus police said.
The 27-year-old Columbus man was at the station at 845 North Wilson Road with his family and carrying an open container, the security guard told police. The security guard told him to leave, and the man finished his beer, according to court records.
When the security guard tried to remove the man physically, the two wrestled each other to the ground, and the man bit off the guard’s lower right ear, police said.
The man was arrested after he ran to a nearby gas station and charged with felonious assault.
He told police he bit the security guard because a man who tried to step in to help the guard was holding a knife, and he believed the other man was going to stab him.
The security guard and the severed portion of the ear were taken to a local hospital.
The bus station is the subject of an ongoing legal battle between the City of Columbus and the station operators, which serves Greyhound, Baron and other bus lines.
The city has accused the station’s owner of providing initial plans for the bus stop, which moved from Downtown Columbus over the summer, “under false pretense” and misrepresenting details of the scope and scale of the operation. City officials want to force the station’s operators to address crime and code violations at the location.
The court case is ongoing.
Nearby residents and passengers have complained of safety, noise and traffic concerns from the busy station. It was the site of a fatal shooting on Oct. 9.
