The tattoo that rings his atrophied upper arm speaks to a youth that ended when a knife pierced his heart five years ago, devastating what could not be called a promising future. At 16, Kowalski had already dropped out of high school. Unknown to him, a girlfriend was pregnant. And on March 21, 1997, he was in a Flats parking lot after 2 a.m., a convicted felon in his company.
Kowalski and three friends went to Traffic Jams. One of his friends, 20-year-old Larry Davis, had been a star pitcher at South High School, winning the league’s most valuable player award. Anthony Marvel, 24, was fresh off a six-month prison sentence for theft, drug abuse, receiving stolen property, and aggravated assault.
That same night, Earl “Bill” Holloway and two friends went to the Basement. A Perry resident, Holloway, then 25, had recently been laid off from a job at a food plant.
The two groups did not intersect until after the bars closed. At 2:15 a.m., in a parking lot at 1089 Old River Road, across from the now-closed Max & Erma’s, Davis and Holloway exchanged words from 30 feet apart. The warmongering qualities of alcohol seem to offer the only explanation for the confrontation, though Holloway’s former attorney says his client wasn’t much of a drinker. This is known: Davis threw a bottle that landed near Holloway’s feet. The dispute moved to close range. By the time it was over, Holloway had stabbed Davis and his three friends.
Davis and Kowalski were struck in the heart. Davis died that night. Kowalski bled so profusely, his brain was damaged. The other two men’s wounds were not serious.
Six months later, Holloway stood trial for murder and felonious assault. His lawyers argued self-defense. They told the jury he was senselessly attacked by a pack of toughs, maybe six in all. His two friends tried but couldn’t pull him away. Knocked to one knee, Holloway reached for the four-inch serrated blade he carried and flailed defensively.
Prosecutors tried to depict Holloway as the sophisticated combatant, savvy in the martial arts and, as evidenced by the 17 stab wounds, thirsty for blood. But Holloway’s lawyers were able to build a powerful case for self-defense. Harvey Bruner, an attorney who represented Holloway, says that moments before the fight, his client had walked his future sister-in-law to her car. He had had only one drink and said nothing to provoke a fight. It was the Davis crew, Bruner says, that was drunk and spoiling for a rumble. “These boys were looking for trouble.”
The jury found the defense’s version more believable. Holloway was acquitted on all charges, and he resumed his life.
For Kowalski, that night never ends. Blind and brain-damaged, he is unable to even feed himself. He lives with his brother and guardian, Charles, whose wife Kim manages Kowalski’s expensive and demanding care.
Naturally, someone has to pay.
A lawsuit filed by the Kowalskis in 1998 originally named Holloway as a co-defendant, but he was recently dismissed from the case, which is finally set for trial April 3. Kowalski attorney Craig Bashein is instead feeling for deeper pockets: those of developer Bart Wolstein, who owns the lot, and APCOA, the company that runs it. For Bashein, dismissing Holloway meant “one less lawyer at the defense table.”
On its face, suing the parking lot for Kowalski’s care and misery — not to mention the cost of raising the baby he fathered — might seem to be ambulance chasing at its most insipid. Bashein, though, has more than a disabled client to take to court.
In legal documents, he describes the corner of Main Avenue and Old River Road as the “ground zero” of crime in Cuyahoga County. Police and safety officials will testify about the lawlessness on the East Bank of the Flats circa 1997. The Wolstein lot in particular, Bashein argues, was hell’s half-acre, and he doesn’t lack for evidence that its caretakers neglected safety.
At a meeting with Flats business owners in 1994, the city demanded that a better peace be kept. It came a few weeks after a night in which the Third District’s entire fleet of patrol cars was called into the Flats to break up drunken fights. Club owners responded by hiring a 19-member security force of off-duty cops. There is no record of anyone from the Wolstein Group or APCOA attending the meeting or a subsequent one, where the decision was made to hire the patrol. (APCOA lawyer John O’Neil declined comment for this story; Wolstein attorney Andy Dorman did not return phone calls.)
Joe Mazzola, then-director of the Flats Oxbow Association, was pleased by the club owners’ course of action, but he also worried that it wouldn’t be enough. “The one weak spot, we all felt, was the parking lots.” He didn’t keep this opinion a secret. In a 1994 Plain Dealer article, he and then-Safety Director Bill Denihan criticized the lack of supervision in the lots.
The Wolstein Group and APCOA did hire an experienced police officer, Tim Gaertner, to patrol the lot on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Bashein argues that one officer was insufficient. The lot can accommodate almost 500 cars, it’s close to heavy drinking, and views are obstructed by the building that used to house John Harvard’s. At the time of the stabbing, Gaertner was standing near the lot’s entrance, talking to a woman.
Kowalski’s attorneys say the Wolstein Group traded safety for profits. Court records indicate that APCOA asked for money to pay for more than one officer, but the Wolstein Group, according to a 1996 memo, instructed APCOA that “security be limited to one off-duty policeman.” A 1997 budget shows a security expenditure of $18,720 — and a lot operating profit of $597,158.
Given such unflattering documents, the defense is likely to make a case against Kowalski, his actions, and his character. He certainly isn’t the first teenager to taste the pleasures of the Flats, but a high school dropout who ran with an ex-con is not an ideal victim. At the criminal trial, Bruner let Marvel’s rap sheet unfurl to the floor.
“Sixteen-year-old boys make mistakes,” Bashein responds, trying to sound convincing. He insists that Kowalski was not the instigator of the fight. “Nobody, including Earl Holloway, has said that Kowalski was the aggressor.” Even so, the defense argues, Kowalski chose not to retreat or seek help, but to enter the fray.
The verdict may turn not on the knife fight or security measures, but the esoterics of contract law. Davis, who drove Kowalski that night, didn’t park in the Wolstein lot. Police found his car nearby. This, says the defense, designates Kowalski a “licensee,” someone whose presence is merely tolerated by a property owner — a legal status that would lessen the lot’s obligation to his safety.
Bashein argues that Kowalski was an “invitee,” someone whose presence is mutually beneficial to both parties, since he — like Holloway — walked a woman to her car, parked in the Wolstein lot, moments before the fight. “The only one performing security at this time is Joe Kowalski,” Bashein says, savoring a lawyer’s irony.
Both sides are gambling by going forward with a jury trial. According to court records, Bashein will accept no less than $8 million. The defense has offered a $2 million settlement.
However the jury finds, the Kowalski case seems to summarize all that went wrong on the East Bank. The police patrol notwithstanding, too many club and property owners didn’t see the importance of safety and cleanliness to customers. Mazzola, who now works for a design firm in Akron, regrets defeat of a measure that would have assessed merchants for increased services, such as sidewalk sweeping. Instead, clumsily handled gyros were left to rot on the pavement, and patrons’ behavior often matched their surroundings. As the vomit, violence, and vagrancy collected on the East Bank, revelers kept to the West Bank and discovered insurgent nightspots like the Warehouse District, Gateway, and Tremont. “For lease” signs now dot a strip that was once soaked in energy.
“It’s like they pissed away a 20-game lead,” Mazzola says.
This article appears in Mar 14-20, 2002.
First of all, Larry Davis was my brother. Joe Kowalski was my best friend at the time. I find it very interested on how biased this whole case was handled and reported. It’s disgusting and a disgrace to justice. We all grew up in a neighborhood called Slavic Village. A run down, poverty stricken neighborhood in Cleveland. My brother was murdered in cold blood, and then made out to be a thug and criminal because of where he was from and one person he was with. Someone please name anyone who’s grown up in the inner-city that doesn’t know someone who has a rap sheet. That doesn’t make YOU the criminal. My brother had NO I REPEAT NO POLICE RECORD!!! He never got in trouble. My parents were too poor to pay for a good lawyer for the case. From what I gather the other party spent thousands and thousands of dollars on a lawyer. As far as Joe’s concerned what kid didn’t make some stupid choices growing up in the inner city. He wasn’t a criminal either!!! There is no way someone flailing defenselessly on one knee can stab FOUR PEOPLE. It wasn’t just the two there were other people stabbed.
The Cleveland Judicial System is a DISGRACE! The Scene needs to get it’s facts
straight before they post this garbage and biased story.
Awww. Your brother went bar hopping with his buddies and instead of drinking and having a good time and ending the night by going home and living on, he acted like a typical asshole that couldn’t handle his liquor. Trying to be a tough guy and running his mouth in a parking lot. Looking for trouble. Which he unfortunately (or fortunately depending on one’s point of view, I am of the second opinion) in this case actually found. Then got his life taken, as well as his friend’s stabbed for their trouble. Sounds to me like your brother’s intended victim knew how to defend himself very well. Too bad for your brother, well done to him. You cry about not having money for a lawyer? Get real. Grow up. Too bad. So sad. I would like to pour a drink to the shade of your brother, but only after filtering it through my kidneys first. Hahahhahahaahaahahaahahahhahaahahaahahahaha
Furthermore, I used to frequent the Flats and bar hop all of the establishments back in that time period. As a matter of fact, I used to park in the same lot where this all went down. Indeed, I heard about this incident when I parked in the same lot within a few days after it happened. You know what I find “interesting” (to quote your own phrase)? I find it interesting that in all the years I spent down there having a good time, the only bad thing about the experience was punk assholes like your brother and his cronies that would ruin a good time out with their chickenshit behavior, not being able to behave as a human being in public, not being able to handle their booze, and trying to start up a confrontation with random individuals. Then, according to the article, the dipshits parents tried to sue the owner of the parking lot for big money to support his ongoing medical care? Care resulting from your brother and company being aggressively inebriated and finding EXACTLY what they were looking for? Gag. I could just about puke at the irony and disgrace involved in the legal system if their case was successful… Yes, I had to knock the shit out of people like your brother a couple times in all the years I went down there, but it was ALWAYS in response to their starting the show. Somehow, that translates to the parking lot being a danger, and the responsibility of the owner of said lot to protect the assholes from attacking people going to their cars, to go home and go to bed, instead of roaming, feeling liquid muscle and courage and getting themselves killed??? Its been a lot of years since this happened, but after having run across this today, I sincerely thank you for the laughs.
WahWah. I followed this story very closely and has made me wish when I was in school I was more aware of my self defense rights. Truth be told, it’s possible that the 4 people were the ones that instigated the fight. I didn’t know Larry Davis and Joe Kowalski. I believe they may have been good kids who were led down the wrong path by the two other older men. However I did go to school with one of the 4 who was stabbed but not seriously hurt. He had a reputation for being a troublemaker. He was one even to me. Some who knew him said they were surprised it took so long to happen. It could be rightly said that the person who did the stabbing may have did the stabbing because they simply picked on the wrong person, but the person who did the stabbing just retaliated. In the end, it may not have been actual self defense. If I’m going to defend myself, I would use either pepper spray or a stun gun. A knife is often used to vent your rage on someone. It’s possible in the mind of the jury, they felt the defense proved that the 4 started the fight and the stabbings wouldn’t have happened if they had not started with him. The jury probably gave Holloway the benefit of the doubt. Most of the people I’ve talked to say that while they feel it wasn’t self defense also feel the 4 instigated the fight. It’s a tragedy and a lesson either way you look at it.
Runner, I agree with you on nearly everything you’ve said. Everyone needs to be more aware of their rights of self defense, especially in this day and age where it seems that things have gone even more downhill. However, I don’t think it is only “possible” that the four were the ones that instigated the fight. I believe from all my research that it is actually the reality of the events that evening. As far as the “good” kids being led astray? Not to be offensive, as you seem an honest and logical and reasonable sort, but that doesn’t cut any slack with me. Where were the two “good” kids parents at? It’s too easy in this modern “PC” correct world to cast blame on everything and anyone else except EXACTLY where it belongs. Really? This critically injured piece of shits parents sued the owner of the fucking parking lot for his ongoing care? Because he was supposed to do what exactly? Provide armed guards and Dobermans and flood lights and a 911 call box and a police whistle and a helicopter overhead scanning for drunken assholes starting shit with innocent people trying to drink and dance and chase some pussy and have a good time out? I appreciate your candor and honesty regarding knowing two of the four lowlifes in question from school. I didn’t need to know any of them to read this one and see right through the farce though. Then research proved my intuitions correct. A knife can be used for many things. From work related functions. To skinning game while hunting. To opening mail and packages. To cutting oneself free from a stuck seatbelt in an automobile accident. To preparing foodstuffs. On and on. Down towards the bottom of that list is in the defense of ones life. I say down on the list because to do such effectively one must KNOW what one is doing with a knife. It’s close and personal and messy. It doesn’t give much reach advantage and there is the risk of being disarmed or overwhelmed with sufficient numbers, which the four actually had that night. HOWEVER, now we are back to my original posting. I congratulate the would be VICTIM for having the skill and ability to defend himself VERY WELL indeed from the four inebriated assholes causing a confrontation. A confrontation that they all lost. Reminds me of a court case in which a trained knife fighter was accused of excessive force due to his attackers being all cut to fucking shit with multiple cuts and stab wounds. The prosecutor in the case almost fucked the innocent VICTIM wielding the knife over until a smart defense attorney placed a dummy in court and had the knife fighter demonstrate how fucking fast it is possible to fuck up multiple targets inflicting hundreds of cuts and stabs in a matter of a couple minutes or much less. The victim was being bullied and assaulted and harassed by four men. Young men or not. They found out the hard way that there are people out there in the world willing and capable of handling a bully or bullies. Care to imagine what you yourself would do against four attackers? He did what he had to do and it wasn’t pretty or delicate but he SURVIVED and TRIUMPHED. I only wish I were there to view it unfolding and be a witness when it came to court for him. I bet those four drunken worthless pieces of shit had a complete “face change” when they began getting cut the fuck up. Must have been glorious. I myself would recommend a concealed carry license nowadays over pepper spray or a stun gun. Its what I’ve committed to. A tremendous responsibility but gives the advantage in situations like this and a mere “tactical show” may just be enough to defuse the situation and send them running. If not you have the reach and firepower to start dropping the fucks if verbalizing your intentions isn’t enough. I could go into the issues with sprays and stun guns but I’ve gone on enough for such an old incident and thread. The four troublemakers went looking for trouble. They found it. Now they want to cry about it and blame everyone else but themselves. A lesson? Absolutely. Couldn’t agree with you more. A tragedy? Depends on the way you look at it. A bit of Darwinism if you ask me. Haha Good stuff and points largely though, going to “like” your comment. Have a good one.
Runner, I agree with you on nearly everything you’ve said. Everyone needs to be more aware of their rights of self defense, especially in this day and age where it seems that things have gone even more downhill. However, I don’t think it is only “possible” that the four were the ones that instigated the fight. I believe from all my research that it is actually the reality of the events that evening. As far as the “good” kids being led astray? Not to be offensive, as you seem an honest and logical and reasonable sort, but that doesn’t cut any slack with me. Where were the two “good” kids parents at? It’s too easy in this modern “PC” correct world to cast blame on everything and anyone else except EXACTLY where it belongs. Really? This critically injured piece of shits parents sued the owner of the fucking parking lot for his ongoing care? Because he was supposed to do what exactly? Provide armed guards and Dobermans and flood lights and a 911 call box and a police whistle and a helicopter overhead scanning for drunken assholes starting shit with innocent people trying to drink and dance and chase some pussy and have a good time out? I appreciate your candor and honesty regarding knowing two of the four lowlifes in question from school. I didn’t need to know any of them to read this one and see right through the farce though. Then research proved my intuitions correct. A knife can be used for many things. From work related functions. To skinning game while hunting. To opening mail and packages. To cutting oneself free from a stuck seatbelt in an automobile accident. To preparing foodstuffs. On and on. Down towards the bottom of that list is in the defense of ones life. I say down on the list because to do such effectively one must KNOW what one is doing with a knife. It’s close and personal and messy. It doesn’t give much reach advantage and there is the risk of being disarmed or overwhelmed with sufficient numbers, which the four actually had that night. HOWEVER, now we are back to my original posting. I congratulate the would be VICTIM for having the skill and ability to defend himself VERY WELL indeed from the four inebriated assholes causing a confrontation. A confrontation that they all lost. Reminds me of a court case in which a trained knife fighter was accused of excessive force due to his attackers being all cut to fucking shit with multiple cuts and stab wounds. The prosecutor in the case almost fucked the innocent VICTIM wielding the knife over until a smart defense attorney placed a dummy in court and had the knife fighter demonstrate how fucking fast it is possible to fuck up multiple targets inflicting hundreds of cuts and stabs in a matter of a couple minutes or much less. The victim was being bullied and assaulted and harassed by four men. Young men or not. They found out the hard way that there are people out there in the world willing and capable of handling a bully or bullies. Care to imagine what you yourself would do against four attackers? He did what he had to do and it wasn’t pretty or delicate but he SURVIVED and TRIUMPHED. I only wish I were there to view it unfolding and be a witness when it came to court for him. I bet those four drunken worthless pieces of shit had a complete “face change” when they began getting cut the fuck up. Must have been glorious. I myself would recommend a concealed carry license nowadays over pepper spray or a stun gun. Its what I’ve committed to. A tremendous responsibility but gives the advantage in situations like this and a mere “tactical show” may just be enough to defuse the situation and send them running. If not you have the reach and firepower to start dropping the fucks if verbalizing your intentions isn’t enough. I could go into the issues with sprays and stun guns but I’ve gone on enough for such an old incident and thread. The four troublemakers went looking for trouble. They found it. Now they want to cry about it and blame everyone else but themselves. A lesson? Absolutely. Couldn’t agree with you more. A tragedy? Depends on the way you look at it. A bit of Darwinism if you ask me. Haha Good stuff and points largely though, going to “like” your comment. Have a good one.
Runner, I agree with you on nearly everything you’ve said. Everyone needs to be more aware of their rights of self defense, especially in this day and age where it seems that things have gone even more downhill. However, I don’t think it is only “possible” that the four were the ones that instigated the fight. I believe from all my research that it is actually the reality of the events that evening. As far as the “good” kids being led astray? Not to be offensive, as you seem an honest and logical and reasonable sort, but that doesn’t cut any slack with me. Where were the two “good” kids parents at? It’s too easy in this modern “PC” correct world to cast blame on everything and anyone else except EXACTLY where it belongs. Really? This critically injured piece of $hits parents sued the owner of the parking lot for his ongoing care? Because he was supposed to do what exactly? Provide armed guards and Dobermans and flood lights and a 911 call box and a police whistle and a helicopter overhead scanning for drunken a$$holes starting $hit with innocent people trying to drink and dance and chase some women and have a good time out? I appreciate your candor and honesty regarding knowing two of the four lowlifes in question from school. I didn’t need to know any of them to read this one and see right through the farce though. Then research proved my intuitions correct. A knife can be used for many things. From work related functions. To skinning game while hunting. To opening mail and packages. To cutting oneself free from a stuck seatbelt in an automobile accident. To preparing foodstuffs. On and on. Down towards the bottom of that list is in the defense of ones life. I say down on the list because to do so effectively one must KNOW what one is doing with a knife. It’s close and personal and messy. It doesn’t give much reach advantage and there is the risk of being disarmed or overwhelmed with sufficient numbers, which the four actually had that night. HOWEVER, now we are back to my original posting. I congratulate the would be VICTIM for having the skill and ability to defend himself VERY WELL indeed from the four inebriated a$$holes causing a confrontation. A confrontation that they all lost. Reminds me of a court case in which a trained knife fighter was accused of excessive force due to his attackers being all cut to $hit with multiple cuts and stab wounds. The prosecutor in the case almost fucked the innocent VICTIM wielding the knife over until a smart defense attorney placed a dummy in court and had the knife fighter demonstrate how terribly fast it is possible to fuc* up multiple targets inflicting hundreds of cuts and stabs in a matter of a couple minutes or much less. The victim was being bullied and assaulted and harassed by four men. Young men or not. They found out the hard way that there are people out there in the world willing and capable of handling a bully or bullies. Care to imagine what you yourself would do against four attackers? He did what he had to do and it wasn’t pretty or delicate but he SURVIVED and TRIUMPHED. I only wish I were there to view it unfolding and be a witness when it came to court for him. I bet those four drunken worthless pieces of $hit had a complete “face change” when they began getting cut the fuc* up. Must have been glorious. I myself would recommend a concealed carry license nowadays over pepper spray or a stun gun. Its what I’ve committed to. A tremendous responsibility but gives the advantage in situations like this and a mere “tactical show” may just be enough to defuse the situation and send them running. If not you have the reach and firepower to start dropping the attackers if verbalizing your intentions isn’t enough. I could go into the issues with sprays and stun guns but I’ve gone on enough for such an old incident and thread. The four troublemakers went looking for trouble. They found it. Now they want to cry about it and blame everyone else but themselves. A lesson? Absolutely. Couldn’t agree with you more. A tragedy? Depends on the way you look at it. A bit of Darwinism if you ask me. Haha Good stuff and points largely though, going to “like” your comment. Have a good one.