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Police arrest a Panthers cheerleader for fighting in bathroom

08:26 AM EST on Monday, November 7, 2005

By 6NEWS staff

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department

Police records indicate they arrested Kristen Owen (right) and Angela Keathley (left). Police have since questioned the identity of the woman who said she was Owen.

TAMPA, FL -- Police said they arrested two women after they got into a fight with a woman in a Florida night club. Patrons of the bar allege that the women were having sex in one of the stalls. One of the women identified herself to police as a cheerleader for the Carolina Panthers but police have since questioned that identification.

According to police records, they arrested Kristen Lanier Owen, 22, and Angela Ellen Keathley, 26, the names of two Carolina Panthers TopCats. The arrest happened outside Banana Joe's, a bar in downtown Tampa around 2:20 a.m. according to bar staff.

However, police have since questioned the identity of the woman identified as Owen saying another woman may have tried to mislead them by using Owen's North Carolina drivers license or a false licence with Owen's information on it. Officers said they have opened an investigation into the woman's actual identity. 6NEWS spoke with Kristen Owen and she said she was at a wedding in Columbia, South Carolina at the time when she was supposed to be in the Tampa bar.

Owen would not comment on who the other woman was. Her mother told 6NEWS that the woman was another TopCats cheerleader.

The manager of the bar said patrons came to him complaining that two women were in one stall and they refused to leave. According to the police report, the people waiting to use the bathroom began to yell at the cheerleaders in the stall. The report also said witnesses saw the women engaging in sexual activity inside the stall. Police said eventually the women came out of the stall and got into a shouting match with one woman.

According to police, the fight escalated, and the woman identified as Owen punched the other woman in the face. That's when two off-duty police officers escorted the women outside, according to the bar manager. The manager also said the woman identified as Owen admitted she hit the other woman.

Officers said Keathley was so drunk she could barely stand. They said she began yelling and drawing a crowd and she refused to cooperate with them. Police said they warned her several times to calm down and they tried to arrest her. They said Keathley then jerked her hands away when police tried to cuff her.

The two women were taken to the Hillsborough County jail. The woman who identified herself as Owen was charged with battery. Keathley was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.

Both women bonded out of jail Sunday morning.

6NEWS reporter Diana Rugg and WCNC.com producer Joshua Nypaver contributed to this report.