Police: 2 people in custody after unprovoked fight on South Side

Police say the attack on a family leaving a South Side sushi restaurant Sunday appears to have been unprovoked.

The assault happened just before 7:30 p.m. as a couple their 60s, their son and his girlfriend were leaving Nakama at the intersection of East Carson and South 18th streets.

Family members described walking out of the restaurant when a woman tackled the woman from behind and began pulling her hair, according to the criminal complaint. Family members tried to pull the alleged attacker, later identified as Latae Young, from atop the woman.

When they did, Taylor’s companion, Wesley Brown, punched the woman’s husband in the face, police wrote.

Police said the female victim described hearing Young shout, “that’s the one,” before she ran up from behind her and tackled her. She said Young proceeded to “swing her around by the hair” and “tried to rip her hair out.”

Investigators noted in the criminal complaint the 60-year-old woman was “petite in stature,” weighing only about 100 pounds. She was taken to UPMC Mercy.

Her husband, a 61-year-old cancer survivor who’d just recently completed treatment, told police that as he tried to help his wife, Brown sucker punched him in the face, knocking him out, according to the complaint. Police noted swelling about the size of a baseball on the man’s face. The son injured his left wrist and right hand in attempting to help his mother.

Brown would later tell police he got involved because Young, his companion, was involved.

Police said Young “smelled of alcoholic beverages and was highly intoxicated,” according to the complaint. They noted she “made statements that had nothing to do with the ongoing incident and continued to yell from the patrol vehicle.”

Brown and Young are both charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and one count of disorderly conduct and harassment. Young faces an additional summary charge of public drunkenness.

Neither Brown nor Young could be immediately reached Monday afternoon. The couple, both from North Versailles, awaited preliminary arraignment. Neither had a defense attorney listed in court records.