A image posted by the Threes Above High Instagram account on Oct. 25 shows the vandalized bathroom. Credit: Courtesy of Threes Above High
Ceiling tiles covering the floor, a shattered glass mirror, strained electrical wires and champagne sprayed the bathroom walls.?
That was the aftermath inside Threes Above High on Oct. 24 after an Ohio State student vandalized the popular campus bar — an act he posted from his personal Snapchat account — which led the bar to ban him just hours later.
The bar, located on the corner of Norwich and High Street, said they have decided to press charges on the student at fault, Diego Hernandez, a fourth-year in operations management.?
“That’s more than a bar mat or a broken toilet, that’s thousands of dollars of repair,” Scott Ellsworth, owner of Threes, said over an Instagram direct message. “Most things we take care of in house, but this event seemed a bit more aggressive and vile in nature, so our hope is this can be a learning experience.”?
The Lantern reached out to Hernandez for comment, but he did not respond prior to publication.
Hernandez reached out to Three’s the day following in an attempt to apologize for his actions? for the incident and Ellsworth said they encouraged him to reach out to his attorney.?
The incident was brought into the public eye after Hernandez’s video was re-posted on a Three’s Instagram post the following day with the caption, “Your parents always try to teach you that what you do on social media is forever. Apparently @diego_h3rnandez is about to learn the hard way @theohiostateuniversity.”
Hernandez’s account has since been deactivated.
Ellsworth said he knew who did it and saw the video almost immediately after it happened because of how many patrons sent it to him.?
“Our customers are devout to us,” Ellsworth said. “They sent that to us so quickly it wasn’t funny. I knew more about this guy within an hour than I know about some of my family.”
However, it was not just the customers showing their support for the local dive bar. Other bars and restaurants across campus could not believe what had happened to the bathroom — and the fact that it had been recorded.?
Some bars on campus including Eupouria, The Little Bar, Library Bar, Mikey’s Late Night Slice and Out-r-Inn shared their disbelief and support in the comments of the post.?
“His friend even knew he’d be caught before the sun came up — he tried to get out of that shot real quick,” Eupouria wrote in their comment, referring to the man who was in the bathroom with Hernandez during the vandalism.?
Ellsworth said the support from the other bars has been expectantly excellent.
“These bars are our family here on campus,” Ellsworth said. “We thrive together and look out for one another. It’s something we’re very proud of.”
As a result of the incident, Hernandez has been banned from a few of the campus bars too.
“Hopefully this will serve as an opportunity to grow and be accountable for this guy, the only way to get better is to learn from our mistakes,” Library Bar said on their Instagram. “Keep it classy out there yall, don’t be like this guy.”
Another post on Oct. 25 came from the bar’s Instagram, insinuating the legal repercussions Hernandez was going to face for his actions. The post was a screenshot of a group chat where the attorney representing the bar, Edward Hastie III of Hastie Legal LLC, sent an image with the Three’s mascot chasing a man with the wording, “Diego didn’t stand a chance!”?
“Nothing funnier than the destruction of private property apparently, really sorry this happened to you guys,” Mikey’s Late Night Slice commented under the post, accompanied with an eye roll emoji.?
Ellsworth said the message they wanted to send by posting about the incident on their account was a threat to those like Hernandez.?
“Don’t [f***] with us or other small businesses on campus, because we’ll all put you on blast,” Ellsworth said. “We have a business where we pride ourselves in customers and staff feeling safe and when that’s jeopardized we take that extremely personal.”
