No charges in Park Ridge Starbucks fight involving knife

PARK RIDGE, Ill. (WLS) -- No one was charged after a fight involving a knife broke out Sunday afternoon at a Starbucks in northwest suburban Park Ridge.

Witnesses told police two men started fighting inside the store located at 100 South Northwest Highway. A 26-year-old man was "verbally abusing" a Starbucks staff member over an order, police said. A 28-year-old man from Glenview, Ill., told the younger man to "stop being a jerk" to the staff, according to witnesses.

"He was upset that his latte was wrong, and so the boy behind him told him to cut it out and the guy with the wrong latte started cutting him up and got him in his hand real bad," said Kimberly Anderson, who works across the street.

The argument turned physical when the California man slapped and punched the Glenview man, police said. The Glenview man then pulled out and opened a pocket knife, police said, though he claimed he was trying to pull out his cell phone.

The California man grabbed the knife by the blade, causing minor injuries to his hand, police said.

During the fight, witnesses asked an officer from the Cook County Sheriff's Department, who was in the area outside the store, to come in and help. He managed to separate the two men and detained them while someone called 911.

No one else was hurt, a Starbucks spokesperson said.

Park Ridge police and fire responded to the scene around 2:30 p.m. Paramedics treated both men at the scene for minor injuries. They refused further medical attention.

Neither man wanted to pursue battery charges, police said.