Violent clash involving off-duty cops at Billings bar caught on video

About a month ago, Louis Delgado’s Friday night started with a friendly drink at the Grandstand Bar in Billings. It came to a quick and violent end after a stranger kneed his car door.

It was nearly 1 a.m. on Jan. 15, and the stranger was with several other men. Two of the men, including the one who kneed the car, were off-duty law enforcement officers who had been socializing at the bar that evening.

“Words were exchanged,” Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said the next morning.

The chief had called a press conference — on a Saturday — to explain how the parking lot scuffle had escalated to the point of one of the officers being injured and Delgado winding up in a rollover crash that landed him in the hospital for three days.

The injured cop was a Yellowstone County deputy who had reached into Delgado's car trying to wrestle a handgun from him.

“It is reported that the driver fired one shot,” St. John said during the press conference.

The whole exchange, both audio and video, was captured on the Grandstand’s security cameras and Delgado, a 24-year-old with a newborn baby, wants everyone to see the video. It was the cops who started the fight, he said, and he never fired his gun.

“It needs to be brought to light what happened that night, so police can’t get away with things like that,” Delgado said earlier this week. He has retained Billings lawyer Lyndon Scheveck to file a lawsuit alleging the officers assaulted Delgado and prompted his getaway that resulted in the crash.

During the skirmish in the bar parking lot, a friend riding with Delgado was ordered out of the car by one of the men with the cops. After Delgado was punched numerous times through the car window, he sped away. Minutes later, he returned to pick up his friend who by then was gone.

As Delgado pulled away the second time he could see police cars with their lights flashing coming, and he drove off west onto Grand Avenue where he crashed his car, landing upside down in the parking lot of the Albertsons grocery store at 1212 Grand Ave., near 13th Street West.

Delgado may have suffered a traumatic brain injury, and during his time in the hospital he ran up thousands of dollars in medical bills. He still wears a neck brace.

How it started
The disturbance at the Grandstand Sports Bar and Casino at 905 Grand Ave. was initially reported to police as a shooting, according to an incident report provided by BPD. It was believed, based on initial reports, the deputy's injury to the mouth was caused by a bullet fragment.

At least 25 law enforcement officials responded to the bar and the crash scene, according to the initial report.

The injured Yellowstone County Sheriff's deputy is Brandon Smart. The Billings police officer who kneed the car is Matt Frank. The third man with the group has not been identified publicly. St. John described him as "a civilian." Scheveck, the attorney, believes he may be a recently retired officer.

On the night of the incident, the three men left the bar through its west exit at about 12:45 a.m., according to security footage. They lingered, talking as other patrons left the bar and headed for their cars.

Several minutes pass before Delgado in his Chevy Malibu with his friend rolls into the frame. Frank puts his knee into the door of Delgado's car, and then sets down a bottle.

Delgado yells at the men to get out of his way.

One of the men responds, "Really? Or what?"

Delgado fears the much larger men and warns them he has a gun, his attorney said.

In the video, Smart and Frank are then seen reaching into the driver's side window, with the deputy throwing several punches at Delgado.

"Don't pull a f---ing gun, you f---ing idiot. Are you f---ing kidding me?" one of the men yells.

One of the men can also be heard saying they also have guns.

As Smart was throwing punches, Delgado hit him hard in the mouth with the butt of his gun.

At about the same time, the third man walked around to the passenger side of the car where Delgado's friend sat. The third man can be heard saying, "Get out. Police." It is apparently the first time any of the three men identify themselves as law enforcement. Delgado's friend gets out and walks away.

As Frank, still on the driver's side, manages to get the door open, Delgado speeds away, heading west on Grand. The third man, who had climbed into the car, jumps out.

A small crowd from the bar gathers in the parking lot to see what all the commotion is about. Several people can be heard telling others the deputy had been shot in the face.
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