Kansas: Witnesses Claim Giddens Instigated Stabbing Altercation

Giddens Started It?: The Kansas City Star is reporting that witnesses have named Kansas sophomore J.R. Giddens as the primary instigator in last week’s bar fight that led to his stabbing. Four witnesses claim Giddens and possibly as many as 10 other men attacked 24-year-old Jeremiah Creswell outside the Moon Bar near Lawrence. Creswell and other witnesses claim that Giddens confronted him, and that Creswell was beaten with fists, bricks and bottles, and kicked. He used a 4-inch folding knife to stab blindly at some of the attackers. Giddens, who averaged 10.1 per game last season, had an artery in his right leg severed in the fight, and will be on crutches for at least six weeks. Creswell required 12 staples to close a gash on his head, while two others were hospitalized for three and seven days, respectively, due to their injuries. [5/28/05]