South Dakota prosecutor: Hells Angels started Sturgis brawl

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Hells Angels members started a bar fight that led to a shooting during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, according to Meade County State's Attorney Jesse Sondreal.

An investigation shows the Hells Angels "instigated the assault" in a fight with the Iron Pigs, another motorcycle club, at the Loud American Roadhouse in Sturgis, Sondreal said in an e-mail.

Witnesses and authorities have said the two clubs got into a fight just before the Aug. 9 shooting.

The Iron Pigs, a national motorcycle club, is composed of police and firefighters.

Seattle police Detective Ronald Smith, an Iron Pigs member, is accused of shooting Hells Angel member Joseph Patrick McGuire, 33, who was hospitalized.

Smith, 43, has said he had been attacked and that he fired in self-defense.

A grand jury has charged both Smith and McGuire, an Imperial Beach, Calif., native, with felony aggravated assault and a misdemeanor alternative count of simple assault. They can only be convicted of one of the charges.

Smith also faces a felony charge of perjury and a misdemeanor of carrying a concealed pistol without a permit.

Three other Iron Pigs members were indicted on weapons charges, as has another man with unknown affiliations.

Others charged include Scott Lazalde, 38, of Bellingham, Wash.; Dennis McCoy, 58, of Seattle; Erik Pingel, 35, of Aurora, Colo.; and James Rector, 37, Ferndale, Wash.

Each has been accused of misdemeanors — carrying a concealed weapon without a permit or an alternative of failing to abide by a permit of a reciprocal state.

Lazalde and Rector are members of the U.S. Customs and Border Inspection in Blaine, Wash. McCoy is a precinct patrol sergeant in Seattle. Pingel's occupation and motorcycle club affiliation were not known.

McGuire is the only confirmed Hells Angels member to face criminal charges.

Sondreal said others might be charged in the case.