Three people were taken to area hospitals after fights in Ironton over the weekend; one of the fights involved 100 to 200 people and required assistance from 11 other law enforcement agencies.

Sunday morning at 1:49 a.m., officers were called to the intersection of Third and Vine streets to investigate a fight involving 100 to 200 people.

"This fight apparently started at Shenanigans and escalated down to Third and Vine streets,"Ironton police detective Jim Akers said. "It looks like it started when one man got hit in the head with a beer bottle. The report said when officers showed up five to eight people had head injuries."

David Lewis, 24, of Wheelersburg was taken to Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Russell, Ky., where he was treated and released. James Poindexter, 28, of Ashland, Ky., was charged with inducing panic, felonious assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Akers said in order to arrest Poindexter, officers were forced to use a Tazer, a device that send an electric jolt to subdue the suspect without causing bodily harm.

Poindexter was taken to the Lawrence County Jail and is scheduled to appear today in Ironton Municipal Court.

The City of Ironton has only two officers on duty most shifts, and had only two on duty at the time of the fight. They obtained assistance from Lawrence County Sheriff's deputies, Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers, Kentucky State Police troopers and officers from Coal Grove, South

Point and Hanging Rock as well as officers from the cities of Wurtland, Raceland, Russell, South Shore, Ashland and Flatwoods in Kentucky.

Akers said given the number of people involved in the incident, things could have been much much worse.

"Someone could have gotten seriously hurt or even killed," Akers said. "An officer could have been hurt, people standing around. I don't think people realize what these officers go through. And we had only two of them out that night."

Early Saturday morning, Adam Brown, 25, of 2628 S. 11th St., Ironton, was taken to King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Ky., after he was hit over the head with a beer bottle at a fight at the Knights of Columbus Hall on South Third Street. Mark Stuntebeck, 26, of 514 Washington St., Ironton, was charged with assault and summoned to appear in Ironton Municipal Court.

Also Saturday, a woman was injured in a fight across from the JAB Lounge, according to the Ironton Police Department log. Information about her condition was not immediately available. That incident happened approximately one hour after the fight at the Knights of Columbus Hall.