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Guy tries a different pickup technique at an Allston bar: Pretending to a doorman who needs to see the ladies' IDs

One fine Saturday evening in October, so many people wanted to get into the Draft, 34 Harvard Ave. in Allston, there was a line outside. A guy went up to another man who was with a group of women and asked them all for their IDs. He was carefully scrutinizing them when one of the bar's actual doorman spotted the action and rushed over to demand the guy give the people their IDs back.

And that might have been that, except, a police sergeant and the bar manager said today, the male patron never got his ID back.

At a hearing before the Boston Licensing Board this morning, the two said the guy denied holding the man's ID and started walking down Harvard Avenue. The man, from Connecticut, wanted his ID back and started following the guy - who eventually turned around and walked back to the Draft, where police caught up with him and found him to be "very evasive," a BPD sergeant told the board.

Bar manager Derek Brady said the guy was a would-be "jokester," who figured he might "find out who the girls were" by playing doorman. But while he was evasive with police, he did say he didn't have the man's ID.

Brady said the guy was booted from the bar and his name entered into the bar's actual ID-scanning system as "banned," so he won't be able to try his "joke" there again.

Brady added that, because of the incident, doormen have been instructed to keep people not about to enter or just leaving the bar away from the entrance - and even with that to make sure nobody's is harassing patrons.

The sergeant said the Connecticut man got a new license for $38 and didn't want to bother with pressing any charges.

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Comments

I can't imagine leaving without my ID. I mean, if it were a fake ID or there were some other reason to not want police looking into my background, sure. But if I'm relatively sober, of age, don't have outstanding warrants, etc., there's just no way I'm letting this "clown" wander off with my license, especially when he's standing there being confronted by the police.

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Bar manager Derek Brady said the guy was a would-be "jokester," who figured he might "find out who the girls were" by playing doorman.

it's not a joke, it's not a prank. it's a person who obviously has tendencies towards stalking, deception, impersonation, possibly assault and worse. but the men seem content to laugh it off with "no charges and don't come back again".

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sometimes people act stupid at bars. sometimes guys act like idiots to get female attention.

it doesnt automatically make someone "a person with tendencies towards stalking" what does that even mean?

you should go into a bar and have a couple of glasses of wine.

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I’ve been to lots of bars and done lots of stupid things in bars, some of which were reasonable grounds for summary ejection, none of which were outright creepy or criminal, as taking other people’s ID documents is.

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"boys will be boys" is not a valid excuse anymore.

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Disturbing that your comment supporting men acting like predators toward women has 9 likes.

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Have you ever been a woman who has been stalked?

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He walked off with a guy's license, he might have also been trying to get an ID from an of age person to use as a fake ID. Based on the information from the article that's at least as plausible a theory as the ones that you put forth. Maybe you should investigate the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and slowly work your way up to this case.

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quite clearly what his motivations were.

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sounds like the premise for an episode of you.

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How did we get to the point where people are willing to hand over their papers even to someone who *is* a representative of a business, just to be allowed to be a customer there? My identity is nobody's business.

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The purchase of alcohol requires that you be 21 years of age or older. Moreover, you don't need to show your identification if you don't want - you're free to take your dollars someplace else whenever you feel like it.

I'd also like to add, as someone who's spent my share of time in dive bars, that there are good reasons for staff to ask for ID even if you're clearly over 21:

1) If you've got an attitude about showing ID there's a good chance you're going to have an attitude about your drinks or other customers, and they don't want to deal with that.
2) If EVERYONE is asked for ID, then no credible accusations can be made that a particular person was only asked for their ID on specific, discriminatory grounds (race, gender presentation, etc.).
3) Showing ID requires a little bit of a grasp of reality, which you may not have if you're already drunk. This gives them an opportunity to see if you're too far gone to be served.

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I was working at an event that had a beer tent and was tasked with checking IDs of people entering. My friend's daughter was also at the event, she was about ten years old but was small for her age and could pass for 7-8 years old. She was being a good kid and helping me out. It was great to see the expression on people's faces, people who were very obviously well over 21, when this blonde waif said to them, "I'm going to have to see your ID if you want to come in." Needless to say nobody copped an attitude with her and we enforced the ID policy uniformly.

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Yes, I know how the system works.

I'm just questioning why everyone accepts it.

Most people going to bars today probably weren't around before driver's licenses effectively became a national ID that you need to carry at all times and produce on demand to the authorities.

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"Could the bar had done anything to prevent this?" response from the Licensing Board in 3, 2 ...

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Did the police ever search the suspect or did they decide that wouldn't be constitutional? I'm wondering if the CT man ever had a license or just tried to blend in with the women. If the suspect wanted to "find out who the girls were" why keep only the license of a male? Did the victim decline to press charges of his own volition or was he told by police that Rollins wouldn't pursue a charge involving property worth $38, even a driver's license?

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I was with you on this comment, but then of course you had to make it about the DA. You just can't help yourself.

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Not on the list of crimes from Rollins. But even that charge would be a reach seeing the guy was just trying to be a creep and not keep the license.

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