Police: Wedding brawl spread to hotel

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Police said dollar bills thrown on the dance floor during a Florida wedding reception led to a brawl that spread to a nearby hotel.

Investigators said the groom, Markeith Brown, threw the dollar bills onto the dance floor for children to collect, a practice rappers call "makin' it rain," and along with his brother confronted a guest who criticized the practice at the Rusty Pelican Restaurant in Tampa, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Tuesday.

The confrontation grew into a fight that spread among guests and spilled into the restaurant's parking lot. Police said one intoxicated man was hit on the head with a brick.

Officers said Malcolm Anthony Hepburn, 30, a convicted felon who was not at the wedding, heard his cousin had been hit by a brick and confronted members of Brown's family at the Residence Inn shortly after the reception fight.

Hepburn allegedly attacked Brown's father, Andrew Thompson, 47, while a female accomplice allegedly put her hands around the neck of Brown's grandmother, Mary Wright, 74, and threatened to choke her.

Police arrived and Hepburn was charged with felony battery, carrying a concealed firearm, grand theft of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. His alleged female accomplice was identified by police but not immediately arrested.

Brown was not charged by police and left with his new bride on a cruise.