Before Screech's Bar Fight, Smirnoff Ice Drama

Dustin Diamond tried to 'ice' someone, prosecutors say
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 20, 2015 10:48 AM CDT
Before Screech's Bar Fight, Smirnoff Ice Drama
In this Dec. 26, 2014, file photo provided by the Ozaukee County, Wis., Sheriff is Dustin Diamond, the actor who played Screech in the 1990s TV show "Saved by the Bell."   (AP Photo/Ozaukee County Sheriff, File)

Wondering what in the world got Dustin Diamond, aka Screech from Saved by the Bell, so mad the night he allegedly got into a crazy bar fight? Apparently, Smirnoff Ice started it all. That's the drink that prosecutors say Diamond bought for a fellow patron at Wisconsin's Patio Bar & Grill on Christmas—intending to "ice" the man, a practice in which someone buys you a Smirnoff Ice and you have to quickly kneel and chug it. "You've been iced. Get on your knees and drink this," Diamond allegedly said, according to court documents. The man turned down Diamond's offer and, well, things escalated, ending with Diamond's fiancee allegedly telling the man, "Just drink it, you [expletive]" and Diamond telling him, "Don't make me stab someone on Christmas," the documents say.

The man and his group left, believing Diamond to have a hidden knife. Later, Diamond and his fiancee ended up at Grand Avenue Saloon, where the bar fight for which they're charged occurred. In that fight, Diamond claims he accidentally stabbed someone while protecting his fiancee; she was upset with patrons taking pictures of her and Diamond. Prosecutors want evidence from the earlier incident admitted into court because, they say, "This evidence would tend to prove intent, preparation, plan, and absence of mistake or accident in that Diamond had already articulated to stab someone before the incident which will be tried." Click for more on the actual fight. (More Dustin Diamond stories.)

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