When you think of Chuck E. Cheese, you likely think of screaming children, tokens, and mediocre pizza. Although it is the place of dreams for little kids, it is usually nightmare-inducing for most adults. Still, it isn’t a place you would automatically equate with violence. Understandably, parents in Toledo, Ohio, were shocked when a brawl broke out during a 5-year-old’s birthday party at a Chuck E. Cheese. This wasn’t just an argument; someone ended up in the hospital.
Details about what caused the fight to even start have not been shared by the authorities. Maybe it had to do with someone’s high score? Regardless, Charles Entertainment Cheese would be embarrassed to learn of such things.
The brawl took place on February 15, 2026, WTOL reported. A video of the incident spread on social media, and two groups of people can be seen in the pizza arcade’s parking lot yelling at each other and physically fighting.
At one point, multiple people are gathering around a car and yelling in the video. An officer from the Sylvania Township Police Department can be seen attempting to de-escalate the situation. The officer then tries to get the car’s driver out of the vehicle.
Suddenly, the vehicle drives forward before quickly reversing, at which point it nearly collides with a pickup truck, the clip shows. It reverses again and this time makes contact with the pickup truck before driving away.
Witnesses to the Chuck E. Cheese brawl told WTVG that Derrick Jones and Keshawn Fell began fighting in the bathroom. The fight then continued in the main play area, where a little girl’s birthday party was taking place.
A 22-year-old man, who has not been named, received multiple injuries, including a broken eye socket. As a result, he was put into a medically induced coma, his sister told the outlet.
“My brother collapsed and I grabbed my brother like ‘Brother. Please talk to me. Talk to me. I’m here,’” she told WTVG.
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, claimed “it was my baby’s birthday. I was throwing this for her. Now my baby is traumatized.”
Another woman, who is allegedly the victim’s aunt, also spoke anonymously.
“All I could do is grab everybody’s kids and try to get them up against the wall and try to get them away from it. It didn’t happen been there at the front door,” she explained, per WTVG. “They literally were running through the whole entire building. And all I could do was think to protect the kids.”
Another family member chimed in, scolding Jones and Fell for starting a fight in a place for children. “Like you knew when you went in the bathroom to fight, you knew that this was a kid’s establishment. You knew that. You knew it,” the relative said.
Jones is facing charges of felonious assault. Fell faces a lesser charge of disorderly conduct at a hospital emergency room, an incident that took place after the victim was taken to the hospital, per WTVG. Police haven’t shared details about that incident. Both men pleaded not guilty and were released on bond.
