-== QT INVOLVED IN "SLUG FEST" ==-

by Joal Ryan

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who adapted Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch into the upcoming Jackie Brown, allegedly sucker-punched a fellow diner at a posh West Hollywood Italian eatery, according to an eyewitness account Wednesday.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies responded to the ruckus involving the 34-year-old Pulp Fiction auteur at the restaurant Ago on trendy Melrose Avenue, but no arrests were made and no charges filed.

"All I know is that Tarantino and somebody else got into an altercation at the restaurant," said Sgt. Marty Chulack. "Whatever problems they had were resolved at the scene."

When called for comment, a worker at the dining establishment, described as the new meeting and eating place for insider Hollywood, refused to answer questions about the brawl.

But according to an eyewitness, the Tarantino incident occurred at lunch time. The witness, a fellow diner, looked up to see "this slug fest going on [near] the maitre d' station."

"I don't think either of these guys had a clue how to fight," said the witness, who described the melee like this: Tarantino standing above a cowering, unidentified man, "punching at his head."

Sheriff's deputies appeared after the fight had broken up. When they left, Tarantino was still there--joining his own party in another room of the restaurant, the witness said.

No word on the identity of Tarantino's punching bag or the cause of the brawl.
Tarantino's publicist could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.