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Police don't like to see club bouncers running across the tops of cars
By adamg on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 12:20pm
The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow what to do about an April incident at Rumor, when a Boston police sergeant watched club bouncers punch somebody outside, then run across the roofs of parked cars in pursuit of a patron.
The club says the bouncers were reacting out of fear for their lives, because they'd been jumped - out of sight of police - by a pack of knife- and brass-knuckle-wielding troublemakers who have been going around downtown clubs, creating chaos.
It's just the latest incident for which the club has had to face the board in which accounts of what happened varied dramatically.
Sgt. Paul Brooks of District A-1 told the board he was outside the club along with several other officers around 2:05 a.m. on April 7, when "an altercation erupted between patrons and staff." He said he ordered everybody to stop what they were doing, but instead, bouncers continued to fight; at one point jumping up on and running across two cars parked on Stuart Street. "They refused to stop."
The club's chief of security and a club bouncer, who said he was a former police officer, told the board a different story: They said they'd been texted by another downtown club that three guys in shorts, who'd been kicked out there, might be on their way over to Rumor. Around 1:15 a.m., they showed up and went peacefully when denied entrance to Rumor. But then, at closing, bouncers, making a street sweep, rounded a corner and was confronted by the three, one armed with a knife and one with brass knuckles. One of the bouncers said the guy with the knife tried to punch him, missed, then ran with his knife. He said his police instincts took over and he chased the guy with the knife. He denied punching him.
The club said one of the three was arrested this weekend at Club Royale for a similar incident.
Brooks disputed the club's account. "I'll stop short of calling that a fairy tale," he said.
Earlier Rumor appearances before the board:
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Comments
New docudrama
Part reality, part fiction - "Boston Licensing" - then again who needs the fiction - reality is a lot better. Jimmy Smits can be the gritty inspector. Other casting up for nominations.
It can be in next year's primetime lineup right after
"Law and Order - Elevator Inspectors Unit".
95% of these incidents happen
95% of these incidents happen between 1:50am and 2:10am and yet we still demand everybody close at 2am. It's idiotic. If some clubs closed at 2, some at 2:30, some at 3, this wouldnt happen.
Huh?
Wouldn't they just happen at 2:30 or 3 am?
2:30am? If every bar and club
2:30am? If every bar and club had to close at the same time? Yes, you'd get a similar amount of problems.
But if bars closed at different times, then no.
And if the mandatory closing time was something like 4am or even 3am, then no, because people would go home earlier.
For example, I think that most night locations are 95% full at 1:30am. People start to leave at this time, and at 2am its 85% full, when everybody gets kicked out at the same time, and cant get home because all the cabs are taken.
But if the bar closed at 3am, then it might only be 60% full at that time, because people have started going home on their own accord. 4am? Maybe 25% full. And by 4am, you're probably not drunk, because you spent all your money at 1am and havent had a drink since 2:30.
Of course, residents argue that there would be noise at 4am. But thats not what happens. When EVERYBODY leaves at 2am, theres a lot of noise. People screaming for cabs, running around drunk, etc. At 4am? You step outside, into a cab, and go away. No noise. This isn't theoretical, it happens every night in hundreds of cities around the world. The next argument is "what works in x doesn't work in Boston" which is false, but hey, it makes mr resident feel better. Change is scary
Who gets to close at 4?
Everybody would want to close at 4. And once it got in, and the same behavior was happening at 4, you could never get them to go back to 2.
Rotate closing times?
Each week, in any particular neighborhood, a different bar or club gets to close at 4?
Come on
That's ripe for abuse and a poor business practice.
As I said, if everyone closed
As I said, if everyone closed at 4, it wouldnt be an issue because most people would go home on their own accord before closing time. There wouldnt be the the giant exudes we get 3 times a week.
DC closes at 3am, and a good portion of the crowd is gone before that time (it helps that many people want to make sure they get to the metro before they miss the last train). NYC has some 4am bars, and they dont have as many problems as we do (adjusting for population).
As I said, Boston isn't unique. All it takes is a visit to some other cities to see what works and what doesnt.
London makes another good case study. A few years ago, pubs were forced to close at 11pm (seriously). What would happen is people would pound as many drinks as possible before 11pm and then get pushed out. It took the english about 50 years to realize this was a bad idea, but they finally changed it.
J is right
Tracks DC was in a daily-stabbing part of town (1st & M SE); the cover was only $5, street parking was free, but the homeless "watch your car, man?" cost $10. Last call was at 2 a.m., and the club was usually open till 3:30 or 4ish. That gave plenty of time for people to wind down and head home before official closing; capacity was in the hundreds if not over a thousand, but you'd have maybe 30 die-hards who stayed till closing.
There were still plenty of shootings and stabbings outside, but none were closing-related.
Have all clubs stay open til
Have all clubs stay open til 4. It will be past the bedtimes of thugs, and they will be too sleepy to cause trouble.
Thugs like anonymity and
Thugs like anonymity and crowds where they can lurk and slouch away after their thuggery.
Take that away, and you might find that it's harder for them to commit crimes unnoticed.
Street sweep?
Unless they're directly in front of your establishment, they're not your problem. Stay the (expletive) inside.
Seriously, "rounded the corner?" What the (expletive) do you care what's around the corner? That's not your job. The board is right to not side with the bar on this one.
Licensing Board didn't buy it
The board today ordered a three-day suspension today for the incident. The club can appeal to the state's other liquor-licensing board, the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, or it can just suck it up and tell the licensing board when it wants to shut.
This is at least the second time this year the board has ordered a suspension of Rumor's license.
I would gloat
But I feel badly for the poor employees who lose three days worth of work. I hope all of them file for unemployment and get it for those days.