Photo by laura padgett

Bar owners can hit obnoxious customers with baseball bats and get away with it. For real. Writes the Herald-Mail:

Washington County liquor officials have absolved a Hagerstown bar owner for hitting an unruly patron over the head with a baseball bat last month.

After listening to about 10 minutes of testimony during a Wednesday hearing, the Board of License Commissioners for Washington County voted 3-0 to clear R and K Pub owner Richard Reeder of any wrongdoing in the Sept. 26 incident.

“I make a motion that the board take no disciplinary action in this case,” liquor board Treasurer William Dunham said.

Reeder told the board that he hit patron James Yost over the head after Yost refused to leave the bar and threatened to kill him. After Yost threw a quarter at Reeder, the bar owner responded by taking a swing at Yost—and connecting—with his baseball bat.

Reeder faces charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment, while Yost has been charged with second-degree assault and trespassing on private property.