Bouncers charged with murder following patron's beating death

COLUMBUS - Two nightclub bouncers face murder charges after a weekend fight left a club patron dead. <br> <br> Police believe Antonio Jerome Billingsley was beaten to death Friday with Maglite flashlights outside the Red Rider&#39;s club in Columbus. <br> <br> Columbus Police Maj. Ricky Boren said there were about 200 people at the club when a fight broke out late Friday. <br> <br> ``The club was filled to capacity inside plus all the people in the parking lot,&#39;&#39; Boren said. ``As far as those involved in the fight itself, that&#39;s hard to say. It started off with two bouncers and the victim and then it mushroomed from there when the people in the parking lot rushed over.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Billingsley died a couple hours later at a Columbus hospital. On Saturday, police charged Samuel B. Hewitt Jr., 38, and Ronald Jessie, 23, with murder. <br> <br> Both men are accused of hitting Billingsley in the head with a Maglite flashlight, which measures about a foot long and weighs roughly 2 pounds. <br> <br> A third bouncer at the club, Andrew Castleberry of Shiloh, was charged with aggravated assault in connection with a second victim, Vernon Andeson. <br> <br> Police said Andeson was in stable condition at a hospital late Saturday. <br> <br> Police remained at the club until 4 a.m. Saturday, interviewing some 200 people, Boren said. <br> <br> ``Apparently the victim and another group were inside the club and there was an altercation, after which he was escorted outside by the two bouncers,&#39;&#39; Boren said. A second fight ensued outside the club, he said, once a group of people rushed over toward where the bouncers and Billingsley were. <br> <br> ``One of them started swinging the Maglites at the crowd and as they were trying to get back inside the business, Billingsley was struck,&#39;&#39; Boren said. <br> <br> Cole Jergen, the operator of the club, described the incident as a freak accident. The bouncers were just trying to protect themselves, he said. <br> <br> ``Fifteen of them were asked to leave, and they came back several minutes later, throwing bottles through the front window,&#39;&#39; Jergen said. <br> <br> Billingsley&#39;s cousin, Deborah Tuggle, said the death of her cousin has ``caused a great frustration in our family.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``This was a senseless death,&#39;&#39; Tuggle told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. ``Flashlights are for flashing lights, not for beating people. The whole organization needs to be held accountable for what happened to his wife and his kids.&#34;

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