An off-duty Aurora firefighter has been charged with battery for allegedly punching a female bartender in the face after she told him to snuff out his cigar, the Aurora Beacon News is reporting.
Daniel Ahasic, 43, is facing a misdemeanor battery charge following the Dec. 22 incident at Stoney’s bar, 1000 block of Ridgeway Avenue in an unincorporated area of Kane County near west suburban Aurora.
“He evidently didn’t like that she asked him to put the (cigar) out, and then turned around and knocked her out,” said bartender Ricky Kauski, who said he witnessed the entire event. “It was the craziest thing I’ve seen in my life.”
The victim was taken by friends to an Aurora hospital where she was treated for facial injuries.
The victim said that the evening started off quietly and there was nothing out of the ordinary until later, when she said Ahasic put a cigar to his lips, and appeared as if he was going to light it.
She said she walked toward Ahasic as he lit a match, and told him to stop. She said that is when she was hit.
As she prepped for Christmas dinner on Wednesday, she said she was still in shock over what had transpired.
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“It’s just shocking to me. So shocking to me. I just can’t believe that happened,” she said. “I need to wake up from this dream.”
Kane County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Patrick Gengler said on-duty deputies were patrolling the area around 1 a.m. when they saw two people running from the bar.
Deputies stopped to see what had the men leaving in such a hurry. Kauski and others at Stoney’s told deputies about the incident, which led to the battery charge arrest.
Gengler said deputies did not know that Ahasic was a firefighter with the Aurora Fire Department until after his arrest.
Gengler said that prosecutors with the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office will determine whether the misdemeanor charge will be upgraded to a felony.
“Sometime visual injuries are not as obvious right away, but the next day, when you take pictures, they are more apparent,” Gengler said. In this incident, that was the case, he said.
Gengler said bar patrons and employees allegedly hit Ahasic after the incident with the bartender. He was not seriously injured, but did leave with a black eye, according to reports.
Charges will not be pressed against those who came to the bartender’s aid in the fight, Gengler said.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Kauski said of the evening.
In 2013, Ahasic was nominated for the Firefighter of the Year Award in Aurora. He and several others were recognized for their heroic actions while responding to a report of a car in a pond near Interstate 88 and Eola Road that year. Ahasic was a paramedic who arrived on the scene that evening.
Aurora Fire Chief John Lehman said the incident at the bar is “extremely regrettable.”
Ahasic has been placed on administrative leave, he said.
“(The incident) occurred while this firefighter was off-duty, but these alleged actions absolutely do not represent the high standards which the Aurora Fire Department expects of its firefighters,” Lehman said. “All of my experience with this gentleman has been very positive. This is very out of character. He has been a model employee with us.”
