Casper Man Charged after Video Shows Him Punching Bar Patrons at Back Door Lounge

The original story by Greg Hirst  for Oil City News.

The District Attorney’s Office has filed three counts of misdemeanor assault and battery against 50-year-old Christopher Danny Biggs after video allegedly showed him swinging at multiple people inside the Back Door Lounge shortly after midnight on Jan. 17.

Biggs is presumed innocent unless proven guilty or pleading guilty.

Casper police say they got multiple frantic calls from the bar on the 1300 block of CY Avenue – one caller reported “approximately 10 people fighting and bleeding.” Officers reviewed video that, according to Officer Jocelyn Morrison’s report, shows Biggs “walking through the west side of the bar and punching approximately 5 people in the area.” Morrison added:

“It appeared as if Biggs just began to assault everyone in [sight] for an unknown reason.”

When officers stopped a truck described by witnesses in a residential area west of Mike Sedar Park, Biggs was a passenger. The driver had visible facial injuries and told officers several people had started punching him in a bathroom unprovoked. Biggs gave slightly different accounts: he said he went into the bathroom and found “a white male with glasses and gray beard” on top of his cousin, punching him, and that he hit the man at least once to get him off. At one point Biggs told an officer he may have used “a tad bit excessive” force; to another he described the incident as “more verbal than physical.” Later he said he’d been struck in the back of the head, though the officer noted no visible mark on Biggs’ shaved head in the footage.

The affidavit cites four victim accounts. One woman reportedly collapsed into a table after being punched. Another man said he was knocked unconscious after walking toward “a commotion” and was taken to a hospital for evaluation. The video appears to show Biggs – described as about 6 feet tall – approaching and punching a man in the southwest corner of the bar, then striking another man; a woman who turned toward the second victim was also hit. A companion in a black hat is seen in the footage punching two people as well.

Not everyone wanted to press charges or have their injuries photographed, the report notes. Police signed a warrant on Jan. 22.

District Attorney Dan Itzen told Oil City News the case initially went to Municipal Court before the city attorney forwarded it to the DA’s office; he assigned it to the office’s misdemeanor team to decide on formal filing.