Hearings for three violations in front of the Chattanooga Beer Board for the same business took place on Thursday, ending in the revocation of the beer license for J.T. McDaniel's Night Owl bar.
Mr. McDaniel, the owner of the clubs and the strip center where they are located, represented both The Night Owl and A Gentleman Club, 830 Dodson Ave.
The two have separate beer licenses, but are side by side and, although only one front door has been used recently as a point of entrance, an inside door between the two spaces has remained open which people use to freely move from one side to the other. The city considered the two locations as operating as one regarding the violations. All the Chattanooga police officers who patrol the area also repeatedly told the board they thought it was one bar.
The hearings started with the claim that the two businesses are separate. There was a different beer permit for each, however, every officer involved in the three hearings said that they functioned as one bar.
The first violation took place on Thursday, Jan. 28, at 11:30 p.m. when Officer Scott St. John, who happened to be nearby at the time, was told by a passerby that there had been 4-5 gunshots. The officers were there in minutes. There was no call to 911. It appeared that an argument led to the shooting, said the security guard. The shooting occurred in the lot and shell casings were found in the lot, and several cars had been damaged by the gunfire. This part of town is known to be very violent with multiple shootings, it was stated. “My biggest headache is this troublesome business,” said Officer St. John. Four people have been shot in the parking lot this year.
Mr. McDaniel told the board ever since a previous violation in April, he was present all the time, and while there he did not hire a security guard, because he has strong management skills. He was not present on Jan. 28 and he told the board he did not recognize the guard’s name. Asked why people who were present that night said it was open, Mr. McDaniel suggested subpoenaing them.
Mr. McDaniel testified that A Gentleman Club has been closed for a year due to COVID. He said The Night Owl is only open on Friday and Saturday nights, except for special occasions. Otherwise it is closed and no one else is allowed to use it, he said. When asked would the bar be occupied by anyone but him when it was closed, the answer was no. However, video from the police body cameras on Jan. 28 show people coming in and out the front door, cars filling the parking lot, a security guard, although not licensed, talking to an officer, the connecting door open between the two spaces open and a neon “OPEN” sign that was lit up outside.
After the video was shown as evidence, Mr. McDaniel said, “Pictures don’t lie, I have no rebuttal." He was asked, "So, you’re telling us you’re responsible?" "Yes," he answered. "There must have been a special event that night.”
"How did that happen?" asked Board Member Vince Butler - since the board had been told previously that nothing happened there without him knowing. “He must have told me there would be an affair there,” answered Mr. McDaniel.
A 30-day suspension of the beer license was given to both The Night Owl and A Gentleman Club for this violation of operating a disorderly place on Jan. 28.
On Jan. 31, another shooting occurred at the location resulting in a death. Investigator Zach Crawford with the Chattanooga Police responded after officers stopped a vehicle for traffic issues and discovered a passenger with multiple gunshot wounds, who did not survive. When he checked the scene, Officer Crawford found spent shell casings in multiple locations in the parking lot including some that were 10 feet from the front door. He spoke to two people there who had been hired for security guards. They said that the altercation started in the club, then escalated. The victim’s fiancé received a call warning her of the trouble taking place at 2:37 a.m. No call was made to notify the police, as is required by the Chattanooga beer code.
Video from a city installed camera that pans the area was not facing the right direction to capture the shooting, but it did show cars overflowing the parking lot into the surrounding areas that night. The board was asked to consider the number of cars compared to the occupancy of The Night Owl which is just 49. The film showed people exiting the club after the “gun battle” happened, when the bar should have been closed.
The investigator spoke to a Mr. Craddock who told him that he runs the day-to-day operations, not Mr. McDaniel. He said Craddock is a manager of the bar as well as a promoter. Mr. McDaniel told the board that he had an arrangement that he receives 50 percent of the cover charges for events that Craddock organizes, despite earlier saying no one other than himself could operate in the space. He said Craddock has events in the facility yet he has never applied for a special gathering permit from Chattanooga. “I didn’t think he needed one,” said Mr. McDaniel.
"It is your responsibility to keep people safe, and you didn’t have staff to do that," said board member Brooke King.
"After having multiple shootings in your parking lot, have you considered having security there? asked Mr. Butler. “Yes,” responded Mr. McDaniel, “but you can’t stop crazy people.”
“One person was killed. What do you expect us to do?" asked board secretary Trevor Atchley. “My heart goes out to every individual, responded Mr. McDaniel.
The Night Owl was given another 30-day suspension of its beer permit for not reporting the disorder and for operating a disorderly place on Jan. 31. That suspension was to run consecutively with the first 30-day penalty
The third incident took place on April 17, at 2 a.m., also a charge of operating a disorderly place. This time three people were shot. When Officer St. John arrived this time, he found somebody mopping blood off the floor, thereby contaminating the scene, he said. Mr. McDaniel was present that night and refused to let police see the video from cameras inside the bar, which required them to get a search warrant. The owner, along with customers, did report the disorder to 911.
The video from the parking lot showed people exiting, which Mr. McDaniel said was a crowd of from 90-100 people. To be compliant with the fire codes, that number of people would have had to be using both sides of the businesses since capacity for each is 49. Video from inside showed doors open into A Gentleman Club, and the lights were turned on, but there was not enough evidence to prove it had been used that night by the customers.
Counting a first violation that had occurred on March 15 this year, which resulted in a seven-day suspension from the beer board on April 1, the third violation allowed the board to permanently revoke the beer license for The Night Owl starting immediately. Mr. McDaniel will still be allowed to operate A Gentleman Club, but was warned that the door connecting the other space must be locked and that space formerly occupied by The Night Owl cannot be used. No alcohol can be served in that space.
Mr. McDaniel indicated that he planned to appeal the decision to Chancery Court.