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San Luis Obispo firefighter allegedly a wedding basher

June 13, 2011

By KAREN VELIE

A San Luis Obispo firefighter who put one man in the hospital during a wedding after-party earlier this month, allegedly bashed another man over the head with a full bottle of champagne during a 1997 wedding in Los Osos.

CalCoastNews has interviewed more than a dozen eyewitnesses of several attacks allegedly perpetrated by San Luis Obispo firefighter John Ryan Mason, 34. However, because of fear of Mason or worry over retribution, many have asked to have their names withheld. However, several members of law enforcement confirm the alleged assaults resulted in 911 calls.

At the 1997 wedding in Los Osos, held at 2095 Willow Drive, Mason participated in the ceremony as a groomsman. Several witnesses said Mason became agitated with a man who he claimed was ogling his date.

According to eyewitnesses, Mason allegedly grabbed a full bottle of champagne and bashed Al Beavers, the owner of Al’s Septic Pumping Service, on the head.

Mason attacked Beavers from behind, but witnesses said he hit the wrong man. The mistake happened because both Beavers and the other man had beards.

Nevertheless, Beavers was transported to the hospital with broken teeth and a cracked jaw. He required oral surgery in order to recover from the alleged assault.

Though San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the alleged assault, Mason had already fled and was not arrested.

On June 4, Mason allegedly followed Jory Brigham, 32, into the bathroom of Pappy McGregor’s in San Luis Obispo. Witnesses said Mason kept aggressively backing Brigham into the rear of the bathroom upset about a post Brigham had put on Facebook,  which noted Brigham’s view on infidelity.

“It is blowing my mind recently how lightly marriage is taken, and how it is almost socially acceptable to walk out on your family,” Brigham said on his Facebook page on January 27.

After asking Mason to stop on behalf of the newlyweds, one witness went to get help. Another person entered the bathroom to allegedly find the off-duty firefighter beating an unconscious Brigham about the face and head.

On Friday, during seven hours of surgery, doctors placed four plates in Brigham’s head and wired his jaw shut. Because his tongue was severely swollen, surgeons mistakenly sewed his tongue to his jaw. They plan to correct the error and expect further surgeries may be required in the future, the family said in an email obtained by CalCoastNews.

Before the alleged assault on Brigham, Mason attempted to catch a cab home. However, even though witnesses said he did not appear drunk, Mason became argumentative with the taxi driver and was ultimately told he could not enter the cab.

Mason fled the scene and was arrested by San Luis Obispo police five days after the alleged assault on Brigham.

 


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Prison…..for a long time. Let’s see how he handles himself in there with the real tough guys! I believe in due process; and it is unatainable at this point. It goes both ways, someone needs to find out what took so long to arrest this person. Shame on LE of the area we call “the most peaceful place on earth”. So was Paton Place! I’ve lost all respect for those that say they are here to protect and serve……they serve each other real well.


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The guards will protect him.


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Mason is a danger to society. He hit poor Al over the head from behind, and was too drunk to realize he was about to assault the wrong guy? Then flees the scene? If he wasn’t prosecuted, it’s got to be because Al didn’t press charges.

Reckless people like this are on the fast track to killing someone. Bullies and hotheads like this don’t realize the damage they can do to others. As a firefighter, I would think this idiot knows how fragile the human body is. Knows how easy it is to kill someone when you start bashing their heads in. He’s no doubt seen this sort of thing on the job. He should know better.

And all because he didn’t like being criticized or was accused of sleeping with another man’s wife? What a moron.

He simply has to be fired. If the fire chief, city manager, mayor and council ever want to get the people of this city back on their side, this man has to be canned.

I don’t see how this man could ever work as a paramedic, fireman, or even EMT ever again. It’s harsh, but he could very easily have killed either of those men and could very well kill the next guy that looks at his wife or posts something on Facebook that he doesn’t like.

Mason has GOT to go immediately.


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Anyone want to take a bet that this guy gets full pay on admin leave for the next year while the City invesitgates this incident. Another $100.000 expense for the City plus the cost of paying other firefigthers overtime to cover his shift. What a waste!


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OMG! I know Al Beavers, he is NOT a SMALL man! He’s a really nice guy, I’m Really stunned about this one! Mason is a real problem, no doubt about it, but it sounds like he’s setting himself up for “early retirement” with all the benefits & perks that go along with it. He needs to be FIRED.


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Setting himself up for early retirement with all the benefits & perks that go along with it? It certainly isn’t about the strain of his job, he was doing this sort of stuff before he even got hired.


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Back to my main concern,,Karen, what’s the name of the surgeon? Inquiring minds want to know.


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I would assume that some of the Brigham families friends and loved ones are reading this thread. Please tell us who the surgeon is who accidently sutured Jory’s tongue to the inside of his mouth. The poor guy just had four plates placed in his face and skull and his jaw is wired. How long is it going to take to get back into his mouth and free his tongue? How horrible, who is the surgeon that pulled that faux pas?


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I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, that’s missing the point of this particular article. Not meant to steal any thunder from the poor behavior of Ryan Mason.


Also, playing devil’s advocate here, perhaps there was so much damage and they were in such a hurry to stop the bleeding/pain that an error was made. The face and mouth can swell up pretty good, when given enough trauma, I’ll give benefit of the doubt – especially if it was caught in time (i.e. once swelling went down, etc).


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IMHO anyone who causes this type of physical harm to another person/living creature while intoxicated is just as guilty as if they were driving a vehicle under the influence. Many years ago a very dear friend of mine was beaten to death outside Sully’s. My friend was beaten so severely his testicles were the size of basketballs. There is nothing involuntary about this type of harm whether the victim is beaten to death or “just” close to it. The offender should get the full force of aggravated assault thrown at him, no excuses, no consideration of the type of job he has. It is inexcusable.


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Alcohol is not the issue, he is responsible for his actions regardless of what he willfully put in his system. I might add that while a DUI driver has accidents due to their drinking, you can’t compare Mason to a DUI driver, this was no accident. Mason targeted his victim with clear intent to do great bodily injury, and if a DUI driver gets 12 years for doing that kind of injury, what does Mason deserve?


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We may disagree on that point Cindy. People are well aware that driving under the influence is a crime and that their judgement is impaired. In a sense they do unintentionally target anyone who may get in their way. I drove under the influence for many years when I was very young, it was a common occurrence, people didn’t think of it like they do now. I NEVER even consider driving after consuming alcohol because I am educated now and know it is a crime that could lead to serious injury or death. I wanted to make the point that there is a real crime here just like choosing to drink and then drive under the influence, this was NOT just an accident. The man who beat my friend to death was also intoxicated and got involuntary manslaughter, serving no time whatsoever. He also had a clear intent and got away with murder. It needs to stop. What was up with the people still serving Mason the alcohol? Angry people only get angrier when drunk, this problem was compounded in many ways.


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You’re assuming that Mason was drunk and you’re asking about the people who were serving him. If you notice, he attempted to leave the party (prior to the beating) and the witnesses say that he didn’t appear drunk, yet he was such a jerk to the taxi driver that he was refused service! I think he may have been on drugs or steroids myself and that’s why the PD gave him 5 day’s to de-tox. It’s also possible that Mason is just a spoiled rotten hot head that thinks he has a free pass in SLO county.

Either way, I understand your point.


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It wasn’t my intention to make an assumption. Going by news clips and postings only. There is clearly no assumption that he almost beat a man to death. If he wasn’t drunk it makes it a case of attempted murder and he should be out on a very high bail or still in jail; certainly not sitting at a desk in some variation of public safety employment or form of law enforcement. Once you have been personally touched by such egregious human violence towards someone you love it is hard not to have a zero tolerance attitude about something of this nature.


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To “get the full force of aggravated assault” charged for Mason, we would have to get SLO’s firefighters, police and sheriffs to stop helping Mason get away with it.


It is SLO’s firefighters, police and sheriffs who are the ones responsible for Mason not being prosecuted for ANY of his viciously violent assaults.


Maybe the SLO firefighters, police and sheriffs are accessories to the vicious assaults?


Clearly, we are going to have to indict them all to bring one of them, Mason, to justice.


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I suppose Mason’s next move is a public apology and enrollment in Anger Mangagement school. Some will fall for it.


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Well, he could “pull a Weiner” and request a leave of absence from his job. Then he could “check into treatment” and say he wants to learn how to be a better husband and firefighter. OR he could man up, admit guilt and do some hard time. Naaaaaah. That will never happen.


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I don’t care if Jory is a bad guy, there is no excuse for this beating. This nut/drunk followed him into the bathroom, he was looking for a fight. The story about the wedding beating sounds a bit over the top. He was fighting over jealousy, which in itself is disgusting but saying that the bottle ‘rolled off the table’ and hit him in the head and caused all that damage is ridiculous. He hit the guy with the bottle and he shouldn’t have been fighting at a wedding in the first place. This guy needs anger management counselling and he needs to stop drinking. I have a feeling that if he were required to do those two things that there wouldn’t be anymore issues from this guy.


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typoqueen………….if you READ the posts, I was referring to an incident that was reported by Karen. It happened a month or so ago at Mo-Tav. I was not trying to explain the wedding incident…I was not there.


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I don’t care who said it. I didn’t name you as a witness to the bottle thing I just said that the story regarding the bottle falling off the table was BS, that I don’t believe it. That doesn’t mean that you were defending the incident, I simply don’t believe who ever came up with the story.


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And why don’t you believe me? I was there. You are just choosing to think it’s B.S. becuase????


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“According to eyewitnesses, Mason allegedly grabbed a full bottle of champaign and bashed Al Beavers, the owner of Al’s Septic Pumping Service, on the head.


Mason attacked Beavers from behind, but witnesses said he hit the wrong man. The mistake happened because both Beavers and the other man had beards.


Nevertheless, Beavers was transported to the hospital with broken teeth and a cracked jaw. He required oral surgery in order to recover from the alleged assault.”…..


That is why I doubt what you say, there are other eyewitnesses that say something different than what you say and because I don’t believe that bottle falling from a table would cause so much damage. He hit a guy because he had a beard,, obviously they guy doesn’t think straight after throwing a few back. Obviously he’s pretty violent so I just find it difficult to believe the bottle story.


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Typo, truthhurts was referring to a fight that occurred at MoTav’s last month, which is another fight that Mason was recently involved in, apart from these two wedding’s. Like you, I seriously doubt that a champaign bottle fell off the table during that altercation and hit the other guy in the head. I rather believe that truthhurts was making up that part because he/she was hearing something about a champaign bottle and decided to incorporate it into the MoTav’s assault, as a “nothing happened” statement which he/she claim’s to have witnessed. Obviously, truthhurts is lacking credibility at this point, unless there were two separate fights where the other guy got hit in the head with a champaign bottle on both occasions.


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OMG. For the last time, I am referring to the incident at Mo-Tav with Travis Mello. Ryan did not hit Travis Mello with a champagne bottle.


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I brought up the bottle thing, you came in with Mo-Tav. I didn’t mention that and don’t know why you are attributing it to me. Go back and read the post that I started this with the bottle/wedding thing. I think you got a bit messed up with the order of these posts.


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Come on, truthhurts. For all we know, you could be Mason posting as “truthhurts.”


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I think there have been too many fights that involved Ryan Mason, that everyone is getting confused…


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Well Typoqueen,

It isn’t that easy. For one, he is going to have to really want to fix his behaviour problem, not just to save his a$$, but possibly his family. Stopping drinking with this guy doesn’t look like it will be an easy road to hoe. Obviously our local officers of the law felt a need to let him off the hook for almost a week. INEXCUSABLE! It is

time that we hold our public servants up to the same when it comes to being arrested. He needs to be fired immediately. And I don’t believe we have heard the last from this man child.


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@slorealitycheck, I don’t disagree with you. He has to want to get better and he has to mean it. Unfortunately a lot of drunks are unable to stop even with help. But if he’s willing and he really wants to then he could get better. Most drunks don’t believe that they have a drinking problem.


It’s easy to say that it’s time that we hold these people (cops/firemen) accountable and we should. But this has been going on for a long long time. They will always let their guys slide through without having to face justice. I have never ever met a cop that would ticket another cop, I know that there must be some out there. Once in a great while you’ll hear about a cop busting a bad cop but it’s rare.


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Well, the first thing he has to be able to want to do is to stop putting his dick in other first responders’ wives.


Of course, it would help if other first responders would man up and stop shielding this *sshole, but manning up when another first responder puts his dick in their wives appears to be a system-wide problem with SLO’s first responders, because I have not seen, read, or heard of ONE of them saying Mason was wrong to have affairs with other first responders wives or to viciously beat someone who had simply made comments about Mason’s literally sticking it to the other SLO responders by screwing their wives.


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Mary, you are starting to get pretty bitter in your posts – I understand this might be a sensitive topic, but you’re otherwise valid points might start to get lost among the perceived bitterness.


You have some very valid points and I appreciate your replies, otherwise!


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Thank you r0y! She is out of control……..


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This is a system-wide problem that has gone on for years, as evidenced by Mason’s repeated incidents of attacking others.


I am outraged over it, and I don’t think he, or those who help coverup his attacks, should be spared using pretty euphemisms for a very ugly act–having affairs with your fellow first-responders’ wives.


I understand where you are coming from, Roy, and appreciate your honesty. However, I am not going to change my posting style, especially when expressing outrage. If ever I am going to be quite open about how I feel about an issue, it is when I am outraged.


I understand if you skip my posts in the future. I wish the board software had an ‘ignore” feature…it makes it easier for one to avoid posts that are uncomfortable to read.


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I don’t always agree with you Mary, but I’m with you on this one.


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‘ Higgamus hoggamus woman monogamous

Hoggamus higgamus man polygamous ‘


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Hoggamus higgamus woman is also polygamous.


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please refrain from name calling and stay on topic or you will be deleted. If you want to discuss the union, stay on topic.


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How come these tough guys never go after the 6′ 5″ MMA fighters? Oh, that’s right. They are only tough when they know they can take the guy.


And what’s the big deal here? Some lowlife commits an assault and we are going to turn it into days of news? Who cares what he did 14 years ago? What has that got to do with the price of tea in China?


And as if what, fireman are generally immune from being lowlifes? Wouldn’t that be a strange stereotype.


The guy committed a serious crime. He needs to go to Jail. And when he gets out he needs a $100,000 plus civil judgment hanging over his head so he’ll be paying it back the rest of his life. That’ll teach him.


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“And what’s the big deal here? Some lowlife commits an assault and we are going to turn it into days of news? Who cares what he did 14 years ago? What has that got to do with the price of tea in China?”


The big deal is that he has now done the exact same thing again and this time, his latest victim is not only seriously injured but was almost beaten to death. The other big deal is why wasn’t Mason arrested for his past behavior?


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Yeah, it apparently is not one incident 14 years ago, but rather a pattern begins to emerge… and not just a pattern of poor choices, cowardice, or adultery, but a more serious (public) pattern of possible favoritism, which could often be cover-ups, deceits, and other illegal actions by persons in positions of power or protection.


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Karen-Why is this? Your articles always refer to SOMEONE by name why not the rest of us bloggers. There are bloggers here that accuse everyone of everything but when they are identified it appears that they are immediately deleted. What about transperancy that this blog seems to endorse.


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I keep trying to ask if Mary Malone is Mary Maloney of Remax Del Oro real estate and my post keeps getting deleted.


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I believe that Karen didn’t want people calling each other names, such as derogatory names. I don’t believe that she meant their actual names. In other words, don’t call each other @ssholes, retards or jerks. But I don’t believe that Karen has a problem with you calling me ‘typoqueen’ or calling Cindy ‘Cindy’. I might be wrong but that’s how I read it.


I don’t always agree with the way Karen writes, her opinions or her monitoring of this site but it’s her website and she can do what she wants with it. You don’t go into a business and tell the owner what they can do or can’t do.


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Calling names or saying who you think a blogger is is not permitted in the site’s blogging rules.


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Mary Malone is a common name. It isn’t right to suggest who someone’s identity might be. That is up to them to divulge. How would you feel if you were in business and someone with a name similar to yours was thought to be you?


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That’s why I am asking!!!!!


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How strange. Do you often get fixated on other posters?


Attack my opinions, not me.


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Why don’t you answer the question Mary?


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The question was answered by the moderator of the site. You two can get off your high horse. Geez


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Why do you ask it? I’ve always found it kind of creepy when someone tries to find out the real-life identity of a poster. There are so many wackos, like Mason, out there. We read, quite often, experts telling us to not reveal our real-life identities on line unless we want to have people visiting us at our homes and offices, or calling our homes. Business who have internet presence, of course, want that. Most individuals do not.


Does that answer your question?


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You are right on MaryM. There are all kinds of nuts that post in these forums. We have families, businesses etc.. I wouldn’t feel comfortable giving my opinion on this Mason guy if I knew that he could find my house or my children. IMO unless you are a single guy then it’s not smart at all to put your real ID out there.


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Yeah, believe it or not, my real name is not r0y. Heck, it’s not even Roy.


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Here is the problem I see: Given 5 days and nights, with good counsel and family in LE, anyone can come up or make a rational explanation for doing what they did because the initial assault occurred without witnesses (I believe there was no one “initially” in the restroom except for the two of them).

On the other side because of LE “delayed”actions”, the victim’s blood on Mason’s fist, elbow, knee, shoes and clothing becomes destroyed and the witnesses memory of specific details becomes diminished as this drags on in time.

They should have and in fact definitely could have “legally arrested (Felony)” immediately just on the face of what they have seen and if they didn’t then LE accepted Masons reasons for his actions!!!


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It is the union that makes it impossible to fire these guy’s. How could this not be about the union?


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Cindy, Karen needs to speak up and explain this protection of the ps union junta. Posters have spelled out the connection and aren’t just politicizing the issue. I’ve never known ccn to be scaredy cats. What gives?


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Oh bull! Karen doesn’t need to explain anything. You people are using this as an excuse to politicize this and bash the unions and they have nothing, nada, 0, zilch to do with this story.


How and where have posters spelled out this ‘connection’. I would love how you people weave this into a political issue but you can’t and this isn’t a thread to do so.


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It is the Union’s that make it near impossible to fire these guy’s. Do you think Mason would be on a desk job if it wasn’t for his union? I have seen merchants afraid to speak out about the FD union after a winery owner in Sonoma County spoke out 6 months ago and the entire FD Union (across the state) attempted to have his business boycotted. Union’s have no place in the public sector. Many people in SLO believe that Mason wasn’t picked up by the SLOPD until after there was an outcry by witnesses because the PD and FD brothers have the issue of binding arbitration on the table.


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“It is the Union’s that make it near impossible to fire these guy’s.” We aren’t talking about ‘these guys’ we are talking about ‘this guy’. The union didn’t hire Mason. This guy was hired AFTER the first beating. That was the responsibility of the FD. Even if there wasn’t FD’s Union the FD can’t fire the guy after they hired him while knowing his past record, that is closing the barn door after the cows get out. He shouldn’t have been hired in the first place and the unions don’t do the hiring.


As far as your last sentence, I don’t see any relation to him not being picked up by the SLOPD because of Union, that makes no sense and I’ve never heard of such a thing. I could see him not being picked up because of that that thing that cops have where they don’t rat on each other etc., the blue code of silence thing but again, that has nothing to do with the Union. Do you really believe that a Union rep called the PD and said, ‘don’t arrest this guy because he’s one of us and it will blow our chance at binding arbitration’? Why or how would this effect binding arbitration?


I have never seen a union defend or litigate over a cop or a fireman that has committed and has been convicted of a felony or any serious crime for that matter. Of course if the FD hired the guy knowing that he committed a crime then they have NO right to fire him.


I have never seen the Firemens Union boycott a business for speaking out against them but I will Google the incident that you are talking about. In this area if a union boycotts a business it actually helps the business. One business owner in AG was happy that a union was demonstrating his business and he used the publicity and local hatred of unions to capitalize on. He said that he had the busiest winter that he had ever had while in business because of the union protest. Funny thing is that this business owner is a very liberal person and I’d bet that he’s not anti union at all, he is just pro money so he welcomed the protest and the free publicity that went with it. Conservative minded people were flocking to his business. If they only knew that he was a bleeding heart,,guess he had the last laugh.


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Here yah go, read it all for yourself, this winery wasn’t pleased………


http://www.watchsonomacounty.com/…/sattui-responds-to-boycott/ –


Apr 19, 2010 … One page, titled the Public Safety Boycott V Sattui Winery …

http://www.watchsonomacounty.com/…/firefighters-boycott-winemaker-who-criticized-pensions-pay/


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Oh geez, here we go again. The earthquake in Japan was also a unions fault.


This is absolutely silly. The union is not the reason that this guy was hired and was not the reason that he hasn’t been fired. Why would you even say such a ridiculous statement, do you have anything to back that up? Unions have NO place in this discussion and to blame them is simply crazy. Union members get fired every day. Why aren’t you blaming the people that hired such a violent man, the local FD? Really, I’m truly interested in your’s and Chops rational behind such thinking.


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Typo, I suspect those attacking unions are trying to shift attention from the failure of SLO administration, and the administrations of the police and fire departments, to protect their citizenry (and the many tourists who visit here) from assaults from their violently assaultive first responders.


Indeed, it appears that the SLO administration, and the administrations of the police and fire departments, have entered into a conspiracy to ensure Mason does not go to trial or, if he does, there will not be sufficient evidence to convict him.


The unions aren’t responsible for arresting and collecting evidence in such a way where, if positive, would lead to a conviction.


To blame the union for the failure of SLO and its first responders to do their duty an attempt to shift blame to another party–in this case, the unions.


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It doesn’t matter what unions do, or don’t do. If it never gets to court, or if there is no conviction because the arrest happened 5 days later, after Mason had plenty of time to destroy evidence and get his story straight with his co-conspirators in the police, sheriffs and fire departments, there will be no reason (at least, linked to the vicious assault) to fire Mason.


We know, for a fact, that those who knew and had the power to do something about it–i.e., the police department, firefighters and sheriff’s department–did not.


Unions cannot arrest someone. They cannot collect evidence, or even ensure evidence is collected in a way that, if positive, will stand up in court.


The arrest and collecting evidence is the responsibility of the police department, and the fire department management should be proactive in ensuring it is done correctly.


This did not occur. Instead, they have worked–really, conspired with Mason–to coverup the incident and ensure Mason dose not get prosecuted OR convicted.


The City of AG was smart enough to bring in the FBI when their police botched the initial investigation of the cross-burning incident.


I think it’s time for SLO to consider bringing in the FBI to sort this out. Clearly, SLO adminstration, the administration of the police department and fire department are incompetent, or too corrupt, to do it.


We need outside help. The ones who are responsible for overseeing these first responders have failed to do their duty.


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…and that, truly, is the bigger story here, I think.


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