Seattle parking garage melee involves 50 people

A dispute over who would be the first to exit a downtown Seattle parking garage early Saturday morning escalated into a 50-person melee and ended with one woman beaten, another stabbed in the abdomen, and a man arrested for assault, according to police.

Seattle police and firefighters responded to a parking garage near O'Asian Kitchen, a restaurant in the 800 block of Fifth Avenue, shortly after 2 a.m., said Renee Witt, police department spokeswoman.

Two separate groups, one of men and one of women, had left the restaurant and got into an argument about who would be first to exit the lot, Witt said.

The women, in one car, got in front. One of the men got out of another car and started an argument with the women. The man pulled one of the women out of the car and "began stomping on her," Witt said.

At that point, onlookers got involved and the scene turned into a "free for all, a huge melee," Witt said. Responding officers estimated 50 people were involved.

One of the men stabbed one of the women in the abdomen. The woman, in her 20s, was treated on the scene and taken to Harborview with non-life-threatening injuries, Witt said.

A man was arrested and booked into King County Jail for investigation of assault.