Newport police investigate car crash following bar fight

Police are trying to determine whether a person who fled from a bar fight near the Newport Pier was involved in a car crash that downed power lines and sheared off a fire hydrant a half-hour later.

Shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to the 100 block of McFadden Place, where an argument in a bar had escalated into a physical altercation, Newport Beach police said.

When officers arrived, a man was bleeding profusely after being struck on the head with a beer bottle, department spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said.

Paramedics took the man to a hospital for treatment of the injury, which wasn’t life-threatening, authorities said.

Witnesses told police that the assailant got into a black car with a group of people and drove off, Manzella said.

About a half-hour later, police got a call about a single-car crash near Jamboree Road and Bison Avenue, Manzella said. The car matched the description of the one used to flee the bar.

The crash downed power lines and broke a fire hydrant. Water leaking from the hydrant caused significant damage to the interior of a nearby church, Manzella said.

Officers found a passenger from the car at the scene. The driver and a second passenger fled on foot, according to police.

Detectives are investigating whether the car was tied to the bar fight, Manzella said.

Descriptions of the people involved in the crash and the fight were not immediately available.