NAPERVILLE (STMW) — An ethnic slur shouted by a member of one group at another apparently triggered a brawl in downtown Naperville that left one woman with a gash above her eye, another with a damaged vehicle and five people with arraignment dates pending in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton.
Naperville police filed charges of fighting against Catherine Maloney, 24, and Daniel Maloney, 28, both of the 1600 block of Dublin Drive; Ryan Maloney, 30, of Oswego; and Elizabeth Kartheiser, 21, and Jason Thomas, 23, both of Lombard. The Maloneys are siblings.
Police Cmdr. Mike Anders said the trouble began about 12:58 a.m. Sunday near Van Buren Avenue and Washington Street. Kartheiser and Thomas were walking together in the area, as were the Maloneys, Anders said.
“A verbal argument over ethnicity” was instigated by a member of one group or the other, Anders said. Fisticuffs that initially involved Daniel Maloney and Thomas then erupted in the street, he said.
Kartheiser, Catherine Maloney and Ryan Maloney then allegedly became involved in the scuffle, Anders said. A man who had been walking with Kartheiser and Thomas did not join the fight, he said.
Catherine Maloney was injured in the melee and taken to Edward Hospital in Naperville, Anders said. She was released after receiving stitches for a cut above her eye.
Ryan Maloney allegedly tore an exterior mirror off a silver Jeep Commander belonging to Kartheiser, Anders said. He was charged with criminal damage to a vehicle.
All five were taken to the Naperville police station for processing and later released on bail.
Anders said he did not know what the two groups were doing downtown or where they had been going at the time. He would not say who allegedly hurled the insult or what, specifically, was said that started the fight.
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