Evergreen Terrace have issued a lengthy statement to give their side of the story about a fight that broke out at their show last Thursday (August 12th) in the Pittsburgh suburb of Cheswick where online claims had the band arrested for "beating up a girl". Here is the band's side of things: Because of the amount of attention that the 'ET fight' rumor has caused, we want to answer your questions and clear up what happened at our show on 8/12 in Cheswick, PA. We attempted to let these ridiculous comments pass and not to take part in the absurdity, but because the rumors continue-even if by only a small group of people - we think our fans deserve the truth. Craig and Jake, a crew member of the tour, (NOT Andrew) were sitting by a red car (not on it).A girl approached them and told them to get off her boyfriend's car. They told the girl they weren't on the car and to chill out. Craig asked where her boyfriend was. The boyfriend walked up and both parties began s*** talking. The girl dumped a beer on Craig and Jake and threw the beer can at them. Craig stood up. He and the boyfriend lunged at each other. The boyfriend tackled Craig to the ground causing Craig to land on his back. The boyfriend hit Craig 3 times, and the girl jumped in swinging. Craig was on his back, his arms up to block. Jake and witnesses pulled the boyfriend and the girl off. There was a large crowd of people by this time. The boyfriend sustained his injuries from someone else (not in the band) after being pulled off Craig. When Craig got up, the girl ran toward him again. Craig shoved her away and walked off. She did not fall on the ground from this action. Later Craig went back to the area to get his phone. The boyfriend apologized to Craig, said the whole thing was stupid and that the girl was drunk.
Thirty minutes after the incident, Andrew (who was not at the fight by the car) approached the boyfriend, took his cigarette, and asked why he was starting s***. They exchanged words. Andrew blew smoke in the boyfriend's face, handed back the cigarette, and the boyfriend punched Andrew in the face, causing a cigarette burn on Andrew's cheek. Cops who were in plain view ran over and arrested the boyfriend for assault on Andrew. Ten minutes after the boyfriend's arrest, Andrew told the cops that he wasn't pressing charges on the boyfriend because he felt he had instigated the punch by blowing smoke in his face. The cops let the boyfriend go.
An hour later the cops gathered the band and said all members would be charged with assault, because the girl NOW said that several members of ET beat up her, her boyfriend AND another girl. (Since then the story changed AT LEAST 3 times.) Witnesses talked to the cops on ET's behalf. The girl, her boyfriend and a couple of their friends told inconsistent stories, BUT none of them stepped forward when the cops were asking for witnesses about the fight. Not one member of ET was arrested.
The boyfriend was asked if 3 people assaulted him, and he shook his head 'No.' Each member of the band was pointed to and the boyfriend was asked if that individual assaulted him. He shook his head 'No' when Josh, Chris and Caleb were pointed to. When asked if Andrew assaulted him the boyfriend said to the cops, band and surrounding witnesses: 'I'm just going to go ahead and say that he did. I thought he was cool but he's not.' He was reminded that he was the one who assaulted Andrew, and was arrested for it, and that Andrew had him released. When asked why he made that statement, the boyfriend shrugged and did a little dance next to the cop car. The cops then asked the boyfriend if Craig assaulted him and he said 'Yes.' No one was arrested. The police said they would mail assault charges to the boyfriend and the girl, Andrew and Craig.
A few people have posted that they've seen pictures of the girl's 'scars and bruises.' The picture on her Facebook shows an elbow, shoulder and chin scrape- probably caused from falling onto the concrete after jumping in a fight as she bragged to witnesses and on her Facebook account. The girl was on another band's tour bus that night bragging she had jumped into her boyfriend's fight against someone in Evergreen Terrace. This is not a girl who has been victimized. It is someone seeking attention. Her Facebook picture-caption brags that the scrapes are from 'scrapping.'
Her friends are saying ET beats women. That is absurd and false. She was involved in a fight. No one in ET singled her out or attacked her. Andrew and Craig have the same amount of scrapes as the girl does. When someone is involved in a fight they usually get hurt.
Evergreen Terrace does not condone nor practice violence against women. If you look at the facts, like the pictures, the girl's posts and bragging, it is easy to see what is false. We attempted to let this blow over. We deleted many comments in the last 48 hours because they were not only negative toward the band, but some were aimed at our fans. We do not want to censor any of our fans, but we will not tolerate abuse and slander. Again, we did not and have not beaten up any female. If you are gullible enough to fall for something like this, then we suggest staying off the Internet. We respect our fans and appreciate all of the support.
Because we do not want to give these people more attention than they have already received, we will not release their names. Because they have posted so much on our page, it is not hard to find this information as we see many of you have. Please do not interact with them. That is clearly what they want, as they have used our band's page as a means of promoting themselves."
