Photo: Carmel Police Department
An Indiana Pacers fan was arrested after stabbing two New York Knicks fans at an Indiana brewery during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals last weekend, according to Hamilton County court documents obtained by FOX 59 on Tuesday (May 27).
Jarrett Funke, 24, was charged with one count of battery by means of a deadly weapon (level 5 felony), one count of battery resulting in serious bodily injury (level 5 felony) and one count of criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon (level 6 felony). Carmel Police Department officers responded to a report of a disturbance at a brewery on Friday (May 23), the same night the Pacers defeated the Knicks, 114-109, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Officers initially received a report of a fight involving a man, later identified as Funke, but the caller said they didn't need to respond after he left the brewery. Minutes later, a brewery employee called the department, claiming Funke returned to the brewery's patio, at which point he stabbed a man in the back and attempted to leave.
Two individuals were found to have suffered wounds when officers arrived at the scene, with court documents stating that one had a wound in the back and the other had a laceration on his lower leg. Both victims said Funke approached them, smacked the Knicks hat off one's head and onto the ground and yelled, "f**k you, you still have a f**king problem. Take this outside," to the victims.
The two fans were reportedly outside on the patio when Funke "stormed through the fence" of the brewery and attacked the two victims, with one telling police that the suspect “briefly displayed a black folding pocket knife to deter (Funke) but repocketed it, as he had no intention of using it.”
A verbal altercation escalated into a physical one that resulted in the two victims being stabbed. Funke claimed that the Knicks fans were "talking s**t" and started the altercation while speaking to police.
The suspect claimed one of the two victims pushed him to the ground and "began punching him in the face," at which point he claimed to have “retrieved his pocketknife from his hoodie and swung it around towards (one of the Knicks fans) back with his right hand.”
Documents, however, included testimony from multiple witnesses at the Indiana brewery who claimed Funked was the "primary aggressor in this incident." The Pacers will host the Knicks in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a 2-1 series lead coming off New York's road win in Game 3 on Sunday (May 25) night.