A partygoer was stabbed in the head with a barbecue skewer May 7 during a cookout in Manhattan Beach.
Police said that two men were arrested for the 3 pm melee in which two couples at an afternoon barbecue by the parking lot near Oriental Boulevard suffered injuries.
The attack began when the assailants, two men in their 40s, complained to the four victims, who ranged between 47 and 60 years old, that the smoke from the barbecue was bothering them.
The two groups began arguing and, within minutes, the two younger men lunged at the couples, punching and kicking both the men and women.
Everything came to an end when one of the assailants grabbed the barbecue skewer and jammed it into the head of the 60-year-old victim, leaving him with a deep gash that required attention at an area hospital.
Responding officers arrested the two men, charging them with assault. Police said that the three other victims, two women and a man, suffered some bruises.
The brawl was the first beachside blow out to take place on the southern Brooklyn waterfront this year.
Even without the flurry of fisticuffs, barbecuing in Manhattan Beach has been an ongoing problem, according to one civic leader.
“Getting stabbed in the head with a skewer is one way of getting rid of barbecuing in Manhattan Beach,” said Ira Zalcman, president of the Manhattan Beach Community Group. “We want it curtailed. We’re sick of all the carcinogenic fumes. It needs to be managed a little bit better.”
The city’s Parks Department said that Manhattan Beach has two where barbecuing is allowed: northeast of the Promenade, adjacent to the parking lot, and by the corner of Oriental Boulevard and Hastings Street.
