Nye County Sheriff detectives have charged two men following a Sunday fight with a deputy at Shenanigans Bar that was captured on video and widely shared on social media.
Anthony Margiotta, 21, of Pahrump was arrested about 9:20 p.m. Tuesday for battery on a peace officer after tipsters ID’d him in the video, according to reports from the sheriff’s office.
“After publishing the video of one of our deputies being choked while trying to apprehend a suspect at the bar this weekend we received dozens of tips identifying the suspect as Margiotta,” the sheriff’s office said Tuesday night in a post on its app. “Detectives tracked him and apprehended him without incident.”
Margiotta was booked into the Nye County Detention Center.
The sheriff’s office posted an edited video clip of Margiotta wrapping his arm around a deputy’s neck as the officer attempted to detain another suspect on Sunday night at Shenanigans, located at 1330 E. Calvada Blvd. in Pahrump.
Joshua Briscoe, 42, of Pahrump was arrested there around midnight and charged with battery on a peace officer following a fight with the deputy, according to reports from the sheriff’s office.
The deputy, who has not been identified, was initially parked in the bar’s parking lot when Briscoe approached him in his cruiser at the driver’s side window to ask why he was parked there, according to sheriff’s office reports. Briscoe was allegedly recording the deputy on his cell phone and when the deputy exited his vehicle, Briscoe allegedly cursed him, according to sheriff’s office reports.
Briscoe reportedly followed the deputy into the bar when the officer tried to locate security at the business.
“The deputy had to tell Briscoe to back up and physically push him back for both of their safety,” according to reports from the sheriff’s office.
When the deputy left the bar, Briscoe followed and approached him from behind “in a threatening manner,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Briscoe allegedly hit, kicked and grabbed the deputy’s arms and legs when the deputy tried to detain him, the sheriff’s office reported.
As the deputy pinned Briscoe on the floor to detain him, Margiotta can been seen on the video jumping on the deputy’s back and choking him.
Margiotta allegedly fled the scene shortly after the fight.