Downtown fight results in charges for brothers

A fight involving a half dozen men this past weekend in front of the Zana restaurant at 210 S. Old Woodward in Birmingham resulted in assault and disorderly conduct charges for two individuals involved in the tussle.

According to the police incident report obtained through an FOIA request by Downtown Newsmagazine, Birmingham police were dispatched to the scene of the fight on Saturday at 1:34 a.m. but when officers arrived the fight had already ended. Officers interviewed a security guard at the restaurant who said he did not witness a fight because he had been working inside and said he did not know if other security personnel had witnessed the fight. Other persons who were at the scene were labeled as generally “uncooperative” when questioned about a fight.

Officers were able to interview two brothers from Dearborn Heights, Mahdi Naserdean and Ali Naserdean, who were nearby and at first denied knowing anything about a fight in the early morning hours. However, after police were made aware of a video of the fight circulating on social media, they were able to identify the two brothers as having been involved in the fight. Mahdi Naserdean was identified from the video as someone who “may have thrown the first punch,” the report indicated. The police report said that an officer contacted him by phone but he continued to deny he was involved in the fight, said he would supply his attorney’s contact information but then hung up the phone.

While at the scene of the fight, police were flagged down by a victim assaulted at the location. He told police he saw four men assaulting another man and he attempted to break up the fight but then the men turned their attention to him and began an assault. The police report said that at one point in the video the victim was “requesting (restaurant) security’s assistance by saying “please help me.”

Both Naserdean brothers were scheduled to be issued citations for breach of peace and fighting.