Lawrence police cited a 20-year-old Shawnee man for battery after he was accused of spitting in a woman’s face and punching her and her friend early Thursday morning.

Sgt. Trent McKinley, a police spokesman, said the incident led to a large fight involving more than a dozen people about 1:40 a.m. in the 1300 block of Ohio Street.

McKinley said the two victims, both 19-year-old KU students, told officers they had been standing outside The Hawk, 1340 Ohio, when a man touched one of the women inappropriately from behind. The woman said she did not know the man.

“She stated she turned around and told him not to do that,” McKinley said. “The suspect then spit in her face, pushed her and punched her in the eye.”

When the woman’s friend confronted the man, the suspect punched her in the forehead and injured her. That led to the larger fight, and McKinley said when officers arrived they located the male suspect and ticketed him. Other people involved did run from the area, he said.