Court documents tell more about Ballard beating

SEATTLE — Michael Squibb, 54, admitted in court papers that he hit a foreign college student last month outside a Ballard bar.

But Wednesday morning, he pleaded not guilty to assault for the beating that blinded a man more than half his age.

Joakim Grevstad, 21, from Norway, was celebrating Norwegian Independence Day at The Smoke Shop Bar last month when he was attacked.

Prosecutors said both men had been drinking.

Squibb had been kicked out of the bar for pounding on the jukebox and witnesses said he seemed to be agitated, as if he was "on steroids.”

Other bar patrons saw Squibb muttering in anger as Grevstad fell to the ground bleeding from his face.

Prosecutors said Squibb knowingly hit the victim with a bar glass.

In charging documents, Squibb claimed Grevstad was pushing him, so he decided to hit him.

Grevstad suffered severe lacerations on his face and eye, and surgeons think he'll probably be blind for the rest of his life.

KIRO