Features
Parking Lot Gets Punchy
A YouTube video of a parking lot altercation outside a Phish concert at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver in early September was posted last month. The video features two men – Augustine Paik and David Anver – engaged in a fight.
Paik, shirtless and bleeding heavily from his head, takes a swing at Anver before running away. Anver chases Paik down and puts him in a headlock. Several onlookers attempt to break up the fight before security arrives.
Thing is, when police were called to the scene, Anver, who had a Phish laminate hanging around his neck, apparently explained he was defending himself from Paik and just trying to do his job.
“David Anver told me he works for the band Phish, and that he serves federal injunctions against people for selling counterfeit merchandise,” Officer Chris Dickey wrote in a report.
(Video may be NSFW)
Anver told Dickey that when he attempted to contact two men selling Phish stickers out of the back of their vehicle, Paik intervened, “became belligerent with him and then struck him in the chest with his fist” before biting Anver and hitting Anver’s female partner.
Paik’s version of events differed, as Dickey noted in the report that Paik said he’d asked “David Anver for his ID and documentation that showed he was allowed to serve injunctions for the merchandise.
“He said David Anver became very angry and belligerent with him at that point, swearing and yelling … then turned and sprayed him with pepper spray. As he covered his face and bent down, Augustine Paik said he was struck repeatedly in the head with the pepper spray can.”
(Video may be NSFW)
No matter what happened in the parking lot that day, Anver, who told Denver’s Westword he’s served trademark injunctions and performed seizures for various bands over the years through his company Anti-Pirate, had some part in escalating the situation. He was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault.
While Anver presented the Westword with e-mail correspondence that indicated he was authorized by a representative of the band to serve injunctions at the concert, Red Light Management, which manages Phish, didn’t respond to a request for comment. AEG Live Rocky Mountain’s Don Strasburg noted in a Twitter exchange that AEG did not hire Anver for the show.