Police say bouncer punched out another bar customer in December

The Grand Canal had to answer to the Boston Licensing Board today for an incident on Dec. 30 in which the same bouncer arrested Sunday for allegedly stomping four people was charged with punching another customer in the mouth so hard he had a tooth partially dislodged.

The board decides what action, if any, to take for that incident, on Thursday. WBZ reports the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and Licensing, which holds its own hearings, recently ordered a five-day suspension for the incident.

The bouncer, Sidney Phillips, 31, of Avon, faces arraignment today in Boston Municipal Court on charges he beat and stomped four customers early Sunday.

As with Sunday's incident, the alleged 12/31 punching at the Canal Street bar happened with a group of people Grand Canal bouncers were trying to get out, around 1:40 a.m.

Boston Police Det. Christopher Hartgrove said the victim had paid for a mixed drink only a few minutes before bouncers began trying to clear the bar and took his time finishing his drink - to the point where the bouncers returned and began more aggressively moving to make him and his friends leave.

At the door, he said, there was pushing and shoving and the victim told the bouncers to "chill the fuck out," Hartgrove said.

Hartgrove said a surveillance video supplied by the bar that showed the area in front of its entrance showed what happened when the men got outside: "I observed Sidney Phillips wind up and punch the victim. If I were a police officer on scene, and I had observed that in person, I would have arrested Mr. Phillips forthwith for assault and battery."

The detective said the victim wound up bleeding from the mouth, with a swollen upper lip and a partially dislodged tooth that he forced back into its socket.

Bar owner David Murray did not deny the man suffered injuries, but said it did not happen inside his bar - and doubted it happened at the hands of the 6,5", 275-lb. Phillips, suggesting instead it happened elsewhere after the victim left the bar. He said he did not know there was an assault until Hartgrove showed up a couple days later to investigate what had happened.

Board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer said she did not understand why Murray's employees were so insistent on pushing and shoving the men back, rather than calling police. Murray said he'd since told employees to call police immediately in such circumstances.

Sunday's alleged attack did not figure in the hearing - the board will schedule a separate hearing for that.

On Thursday, the board could take no action, issue a warning or suspend the bar's license for a period of time.