LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Two Lexington men are facing multiple charges after police say they showed up armed to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital on Saturday and then engaged in a "brawl" with family members of a gunshot victim.
27-year-old Roderick Bowditch, Jr. and 23-year-old Marquis A. Tompkins are charged with wanton endangerment and disorderly conduct, according to court records. Bowditch is also charged with resisting arrest.
Bowditch and Tompkins were arrested by University of Kentucky Police after the alleged brawl just before 10:00 p.m. Saturday at the hospital.
Neither of the men charged in the situation at the hospital are accused in any of the weekend shootings, and it's unclear what led up to incident at the hospital.
Tompkins is accused of taunting and swinging at the family of the gunshot victim, and Bowditch is accused of punching one of the family members, according to court records.
“(Bowditch) was taken into custody after sucker punching a defenseless subject from behind,” according to his arrest citation. “Then resisted arrest and had to be taken onto the ground, while on the ground the subject continued to resist until threat of being tased rendered compliance.”
As police investigated after Bowditch and Tompkins’ arrests, they tied them to an incident that allegedly happened just before the fight at the hospital.
A maroon Chevy Malibu had pulled into the Chandler Emergency Department loop with three people inside. Two were “wearing all black clothing and were wearing black ski masks,” according to the citation.
A security officer reported that one of the men stepped out of the car brandishing a handgun, according to the citation. The security officer said that the man from the car told them “we’re here to finish what we started.”
The security officer then yelled “gun” to get the attention of officers in the area and the man from the car got back in the vehicle and the car drove off, according to the citation. The car was then parked near the hospital’s exit.
At that point, the two from the car who were wearing ski masks allegedly got out of the car and approached the family members of the gunshot victim, initiating the brawl, according to the citation.
While police were arresting one of the men after the brawl, a gun matching the description of the incident with the security guard fell into the grass, according to the citation.
Tompkins and Bowditch were set to be arraigned Monday.
Andre Washington, the grandmother of both men accused in the hospital incident, said that her daughter had been struck across the face by someone at the hospital, and that Bowditch was defending his aunt.
"My grandsons are innocent," Washington said in a statement. "They weren’t involved in any shooting."
At the time of the incident Saturday, Tompkins was out on bond for five counts of wanton endangerment in connection with shots fired outside Fayette Mall late last month, according to police and court records. Tompkins was one of two men charged in the Aug. 26 shooting that damaged a vehicle outside the mall.
In the incident at the mall, Tompkins was accused of shooting at a group of men after that group, some of whom were observed to be armed, chased him out of the mall, according to court records. After Tompkins allegedly fired at them, a member of the other group allegedly fired at Tompkins as he drove away. Police accuse Tompkins of then approaching the group in a different part of the mall's parking lot and firing again before driving away.
