Man dies after being punched in bar fight
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A man is dead after taking a punch in a bar fight, and his former girlfriend says she can't locate their 4-year-old daughter because his mother and aunt won't tell return her calls.
Gregory Patrick Smelcer, 37, died Sunday at Sacred Heart Medical Center of head injuries from the fight early Saturday morning at the Screaming Yak, authorities said.
Spokane County sheriff's Sgt. R. David Dave Reagan said deputies arrived as Smelcer was being taken to the hospital. Witnesses told investigators that Smelcer took a punch from a bar patron about whom he had been making derogatory remarks and fell backward, hit a wall and lost consciousness.
Investigators have located the man who threw the punch but did not immediately arrest him, and the investigation was continuing, Reagan said.
Marci Petersen, who once lived with Smelcer and remained friends with him after they separated, said she learned he was on life support when she was on her way to Sacred Heart Medical Center for the birth of her brother's baby, but he died before she could get to his room.
"I never got a chance to say goodbye. I'm not handling it well," Petersen said. "I was trying to call him at least 15 times that day. I had a feeling something was wrong."
She said Smelcer had moved back to Spokane from Auburn slightly more than a week earlier and had just started a job as a quality assurance inspector.
Since his death, Petersen said, Smelcer's mother and aunt haven't told her the whereabouts of their daughter, Kaitlyn. She said Smelcer had 51 percent custody but added that she had been able to spend more time with the little girl after he moved back to Spokane.
"They have our daughter and they won't return my phone calls to bring her back to me," she said.
Petersen said she spoke with city police detectives Sunday evening.
Gregory Patrick Smelcer, 37, died Sunday at Sacred Heart Medical Center of head injuries from the fight early Saturday morning at the Screaming Yak, authorities said.
Spokane County sheriff's Sgt. R. David Dave Reagan said deputies arrived as Smelcer was being taken to the hospital. Witnesses told investigators that Smelcer took a punch from a bar patron about whom he had been making derogatory remarks and fell backward, hit a wall and lost consciousness.
Investigators have located the man who threw the punch but did not immediately arrest him, and the investigation was continuing, Reagan said.
Marci Petersen, who once lived with Smelcer and remained friends with him after they separated, said she learned he was on life support when she was on her way to Sacred Heart Medical Center for the birth of her brother's baby, but he died before she could get to his room.
"I never got a chance to say goodbye. I'm not handling it well," Petersen said. "I was trying to call him at least 15 times that day. I had a feeling something was wrong."
She said Smelcer had moved back to Spokane from Auburn slightly more than a week earlier and had just started a job as a quality assurance inspector.
Since his death, Petersen said, Smelcer's mother and aunt haven't told her the whereabouts of their daughter, Kaitlyn. She said Smelcer had 51 percent custody but added that she had been able to spend more time with the little girl after he moved back to Spokane.
"They have our daughter and they won't return my phone calls to bring her back to me," she said.
Petersen said she spoke with city police detectives Sunday evening.