Police investigating incident at Waukegan club; man says he was wrongly accused, thrown to ground

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (WLS) -- Waukegan police are investigating a recent incident at a nightclub.

Kevante Curry says he was wrongly accused of smoking and thrown to the ground.

Managers at Red Iguana nightclub say the security guard involved was immediately fired after the incident, saying they are standing by the victim who was left battered after being thrown out over what the victim says was a smoking policy.

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Cell phone video showed security guards throwing Curry's unconscious body out of a nightclub, with his face slamming to the ground.

"All I asked for him was to go get my family out of there so we could all leave, but it turned into that," Curry said.

The 33-year-old eventually woke up with broken teeth and bruises to his body.

ABC7 has blurred the faces of the security guards in the video since no one has been charged.

The incident happened just after midnight Saturday, at Red Iguana Nightclub in Waukegan, while Curry says he was out with family and friends. Then, he says he was accused of smoking indoors.

"Why me? Because I definitely wasn't smoking," Curry said. "But I walked right out on my own. I didn't argue with them or nothing."

He says he was allowed to stand in the lobby to wait for a relative to give him his phone, but things quickly escalated.

"They kept ignoring me, so I asked them again, like, 'Can somebody go get my cousin?'" Curry said. "Still not paying me no attention, so I took the initiative to go in on my own. When I did that, that's when they started grabbing me and attacking me."

He was left unconscious after he says he was choked out by a security guard.

In a statement, club management wrote in part, "We regret that this situation escalated and resulted in harm and distress... We are actively reviewing our security policies, training standards, and oversight procedures to ensure incidents like this do not happen again."

That same day, Curry went to Waukegan Police to report the altercation, and police confirmed to ABC7 they are investigating.