Full Notification

A victim of, what appeared to be, a minor Larkfield bar fight is now suffering from life threatening injuries and the suspect was arrested for felony assault. The Sheriff’s Office received a call from a San Francisco hospital at about 1:45 PM Saturday afternoon. A 29-year-old Windsor man was transferred to this location from Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital when he was diagnosed with a serious injury that caused lack of blood to his brain.
 
There were no visible injuries present, but when doctors performed surgery in San Francisco they found what appeared to be trauma to the inside of his neck and they felt he was likely the victim of an assault. They also stated this was a very serious injury that could cause death or serious long lasting effects based on the lack of blood to the brain.
 
Detectives from the Sheriff’s Violent Crimes Unit were called in to investigate the incident. When they talked to family and friends they learned the victim had gone to the Final Edition bar in Larkfield on Friday night between 9:00-10:00 PM with friends and that he had been involved in a minor fight around midnight.  Detectives learned he got hit once but the fight broke up and the victim then stayed at the bar until closing time around 1:30 AM on Saturday morning without complaining of any injury.
 
The victim went to a friend’s home in Windsor and at around 2:00 AM he collapsed to the floor. An ambulance was called and he was then transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.
 
Detectives went to the Final Edition bar and were able to retrieve video surveillance of the altercation. Detectives noted there was a group of people in the bar by the front door and a very quick fight took place between 5-6 people. The victim was involved in the fight and was actively punching someone when he got punched by one person on the side of the face/neck area. The fight lasted no longer than about 20 seconds as it was quickly thwarted by security staff and rational patrons. Several people left the bar and the victim appeared to be fine. Detectives don’t know what the argument was about that caused the fight.
 
The suspect who threw the punch to the victim’s face/neck was identified as Juan Martinez, a 36-year-old Santa Rosa man with no local prior arrests. Detectives met with Martinez at his home at about 1:15 PM on Sunday, March 10^th and arrested him for felony battery causing a serious bodily injury and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury. He was booked into the Sonoma County Jail and was released on a $50,000 bail bond.
 
The victim remains in a San Francisco hospital in critical condition. Detectives caution the public that the most innocuous altercations can lead to serious bodily injury and/or death and long lasting repercussions can occur, even just with one punch.