A homicide investigation is underway after a bar manager was killed from a punch in Santa Monica. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Thursday, June 13, 2024.
A bar manager in Santa Monica died following a physical altercation with a patron, the Santa Monica Police Department said Thursday.
Police said officers responded to Jameson’s Pub on Main Street near Hill Street Tuesday at around 12:05 a.m. and found the bar employee unconscious.
Investigators learned that after the pub manager asked several patrons to leave the bar, a fight broke out on the street with one of the bar-goers punching the employee.
“When the officers arrived on scene, the manager was not breathing,” the police department said in a statement.
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First responders administered CPR and implemented other lifesaving measures, but the man later died at a hospital.
Detectives determined three patrons were involved in the altercation, arrested them and booked at the Santa Monica jail. And among them, 26-year-old Leonard Korpie, a Venice resident, was responsible for punching the bar manager, the police department said.
Korpie was being held on $2 million bail after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed a homicide charge against him Thursday.
Anyone with information about the fight or the suspect is encouraged to contact the Santa Monica Police Department.
