Inset: Jarrett Funke (Hamilton County). Background: The 2700 block of Meeting House Road in Carmel, Ind., where Jarrett Funke was arrested at a brewery (Google Maps).
An Indiana man is facing felony charges for allegedly plunging a “pocketknife” into two brewery patrons during a Friday night scuffle, which started over one of the victims’ fandom for the New York Knicks as they were playing the suspect’s hometown Pacers that night, according to police.
Jarrett Funke, 24, is charged with battery by means of a deadly weapon and criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon for the May 23 attack at the Danny Boy Beer Works in the 12700 block of Meeting House Road in Carmel, according to local police officials.
Funke, who is from Carmel, allegedly threw a sports-fueled fit at the brewery — flipping the victim’s Knicks hat off his head and yelling “f— you” at them repeatedly — while the Knicks-Pacers game was going on, according to Funke’s probable cause affidavit, which was obtained by Law&Crime on Wednesday.
The victims both claim they did nothing to purposely set Funke off, telling police he “began aggressively mocking” one of them out of nowhere “for being a New York Knicks fan,” the affidavit says.
“F— you, you still have f—ing problem. Take this outside!” Funke allegedly yelled, while his own father held him back, per the affidavit.
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The victim told police that about five minutes later, “everything settled down” and he walked outside with a friend to smoke a cigarette.
“Victim 1 stated no other people were present on the back patio, when suddenly, the accused ‘stormed through the fence’ and began attacking Victim 2,” the affidavit alleges. “Victim 1 stated Victim 2 and the accused were on the ground, when Victim 1 grabbed the accused saying, ‘Hey, chill the f— out, chill the f— out!””
Funke did not chill out, instead stabbing both men in the back and leg, respectively, according to Carmel Police. Even his own dad was allegedly shocked by Funke’s actions and at one point tried getting him to stop provoking the victims inside the brewery before Funke was eventually booted by staff, the affidavit says.
“The accused’s father stated prior to this incident, while inside the bar, his son walked over to Victim and ‘flipped his cap off his head,’” police allege. “The accused’s father stated he promptly walked over to his son and stated, ‘No, we ‘re not going to do that’ and sat him back down afterwards.”
Both the victims and Funke told cops that one of them had displayed a “pocketknife” similar to Funke’s before he brandished his own and stabbed them, according to the affidavit. But the victim who had it maintains that he wasn’t intending to use it and put it away before the assault.
“The accused stated he could see Victim 1 and Victim 2 through the fence of the patio, as he was walking to his car, parked nearby,” the affidavit says. “The accused stated he was walking towards Victim 1 and Victim 2 to see what the problem was, as they were ‘talking s—.’ The accused stated he observed Victim 2 holding a knife and yet still approached him, where the altercation then took place.”
Funke allegedly told police that he was pushed to the ground by the victim with the knife and punched in the face repeatedly by him. He stated that “from what he can remember, while he was on his back being punched” he retrieved his pocketknife from his hoodie and “swung it around” towards the victim’s back with his right hand.
Police say “multiple witness accounts,” however, show Funke as being the “primary aggressor,” according to the affidavit.
Funke appeared in court on Tuesday in Hamilton County and his bail was set at $20,000. A pretrial hearing was set for Aug. 5 and his trial is scheduled to begin on Sep. 8.
