Chaos erupted at the Old Western Saloon in Point Reyes Station early Sunday morning when two on-duty Sheriff's deputies hanging out in the bar tried to help the bartender clear the saloon after closing time.

The ensuing confrontation spilled into the street. By the end, 12 officers were on the scene with more waiting nearby, five people had been arrested, and one man - the bass player for the band Jumbo, which had been performing that night - had been subdued twice with pepper spray.

"It was just way out of hand," said Jumbo guitarist Darren Nelson. "[The deputies] brought it to a level all on their own. That wouldn't have happened if they weren't there. Everyone's just really angry and confused. It's just not right."

Deputies gave a different account, saying they had a potential riot on their hands and used only the force necessary to control intoxicated people who were aggressively resisting arrest.

Western Saloon bartender Terry Medin said law enforcement's response was justified. Probably no one would have been arrested, she said, if two men who dashed their drink glasses on the ground had calmed down and apologized.

As it happens, The Light was on the scene and witnessed much of the incident.

Here's what happened:

Just before closing time and long after Jumbo was done performing, Medin ordered everybody out of the bar, as she always does.

When patrons lagged - some were still shooting pool and some were still drinking at the bar - Medin enlisted the help of deputies Ken Jones and Keith Boyd, who had been in the bar (not drinking) for roughly 20 minutes. Jones has worked the night shift in West Marin for slightly less than a year. Boyd is a Civic Center deputy who was on a relief shift for another deputy.

Sheriff's Lt. Jim Riddell - reading from Deputy Jones' report - told The Light that Medin told Jones and Boyd that "the band had been acting up" and "there had been some tension." He said Medin also told deputies that she had been having trouble with one patron, Sean Cook, a friend of the band.

Medin, however, said she never told deputies about any problem with the band. "The only thing wrong with the band was that the last song they played was (Can You Tell Me How To Get To) Sesame Street? There was no tension."

She did, however, tell the deputies about Cook, who was "being kind of obnoxious to the point where he wanted to be arrested."

It was after 2 a.m. when the deputies approached Cook and asked him to leave. When he ignored them, they gave him a count to 10. At that point, Jumbo bass player Paul Szczepanek intervened and said he'd escort Cook out of the bar. As they left, Medin said, Cook grabbed his drink, shattered the glass at deputies' feet, and ran out the door.

(Cook reportedly denied throwing the glass, but another bar employee this week reported finding lots of broken glass inside the bar the next morning.)

The deputies ran after Cook, grabbed him outside, and arrested him. "When they started to put the cuffs on him," Lt. Riddell said, reviewing the report, "he resisted and started swinging."

At that point, other patrons started shouting at the deputies for being overzealous, and Szczepanek got confrontational; he too smashed a glass on the ground.

Fearing Szczepanek was "inciting a riot," (in the words of the report), Deputy Boyd grabbed the musician and tried to handcuff him while Deputy Jones held Cook on the ground. According to the report, Szczepanek resisted arrest by swinging his arms and punching Boyd in the side - a claim Szczepanek denies.

"They're trying to make it sound like I was trying to start a riot," Szczepanek said Wednesday. "Fuck that. It was unjust that they didn't give Sean much of a chance [to leave the bar] ... It was unfair. They ruined a really good vibe."

Deputy Boyd then blasted Szczepanek with pepper spray, hitting him in the chest. Deputy Jones then sprayed him, this time catching him in the face.

Deputies said the second shot was delivered only because Szczepanek continued to resist arrest. Jumbo guitarist Nelson said otherwise: "I watched Paul with his hands behind his back, and [Deputy Jones] stood one foot away and sprayed him down."

Regardless, the spraying launched onlookers into a rage. Some men barked profanities at the officers. Others screamed accusations of police brutality and blamed bartender Medin, who remained inside the saloon behind locked doors.

The throng confronted the deputies, effectively pinning them against the outside of the Western. Deputy Jones held Szczepanek with one hand and with the other, radioed for backup officers and paramedics (Szczepanek, now handcuffed, was complaining he couldn't see or breath) Jones called out a "Code Three," which tells other officers it's an emergency and to use lights and sirens.

Meanwhile Deputy Boyd clutched his baton and held Cook on the ground with one knee.

The police log said deputies thought the crowd was trying to free the two men in handcuffs. Medin reported she "saw hands groping through" toward the deputies. "They needed somebody quick. [People] were freaking out."

(For what it's worth, this reporter saw no overt attempts to free the pair, but the tone of the crowd was indeed threatening and extremely hostile.)

The shouting persisted until the ambulance and the other officers began arriving. Several people, including guitarist Nelson, asked their friends to settle down and let the deputies get Szczepanek to the paramedics.

The altercation escalated, however, when four Fairfax police officers with an attack dog arrived in two cars, sirens wailing. Batons in their fists, they established a perimeter around the arresting deputies, who by then had moved into the middle of Highway 1.

Although just two Fairfax squad cars appeared at the scene, Point Reyes Station resident Cheyenne Young said he saw seven patrolcars blaze into Point Reyes Station - most of them from Fairfax - but that some of them waited at various positions in the area.

Several officers moved toward the people who were still around, followed them down Second Street, and ordered them to leave under threat of arrest.

One of the officers who pulled up, Sheriff's Sgt. Glenn Godfrey, flung open his door and shouted, "Where are those assholes?!", and headed toward the crowd.

Among those arrested was Bolinas resident Mary Healy, for allegedly inciting a riot and assaulting the police dog.

Healy told The Light on Monday she never struck the dog. She said she was merely talking to it and then argued with an officer who told her to "shut up."

Also arrested was Sean Cook's twin brother Chris, for being drunk in public and for allegedly urinating on a Fairfax police car. He was later let go without being charged.

The fifth person arrested was Jason Owen, Jumbo's singer and keyboard player. His bandmate Nelson said Owen was walking toward his car as the police line approached, and was saying, "I don't want any trouble" when an officer pushed him in the shoulder.

Owen, Nelson said, turned around and told officers, "'Don't fuckin' push me,' and that's when they went to work on him." He said an officer handcuffed Owen and subdued him by pinching a pressure point below the earlobe

"I watched him get hit from behind with his hands in the air [as if to say he wasn't doing anything wrong]," Nelson said, adding that the officer held Owen down by stepping or kneeing on his head.

(In fairness, Lt. Riddell could not respond to the Owen incident because there was little explanation of it in the report.)

The rest of the crowd dispersed, with the remaining band members leaving last. They sped away in their van and shouted, "Fuck you!" at the officers.

Of those arrested and jailed, Healy, 27; Owen, 26; and Sean Cook, 23, were released Sunday morning. Szczepanek, 25, was held until Monday evening and released after the band paid $1,300 bail. He's been charged with battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and public drunkenness.

The group has met with a lawyer and plans to fight the charges.

Some witnesses said that the deputies just being in the bar at closing time fueled the incident, although the deputies' presence there around that time is common enough.

Bartender Medin said the deputies rarely get involved with clearing the bar at closing, the way they did Saturday night. "It's usually Ken Jones and [partner] Mark Hale," she said. "They wait for me to count my money and they walk me to my car."

One thing everybody agreed on was that things degenerated quickly. "The night was perfect [until then]," Medin said. "Everybody had a great time."