The City Beer Board on Thursday declined to take action against two bars on Station Street.
The Blue Light at 43 Station St. was before the board to resolve a charge that had been delayed because parties involved were not present at the last meeting to answer questions. The bar had six violations after just being open for four months, beginning in summer 2021. The violations included allowing an employee to consume alcohol or be intoxicated on the premise, selling beer off premise twice, operating a disorderly place two times and for failing to report a disorder to the Chattanooga Police.
Penalties for the various infractions included having their beer license suspended three times with days increasing for a total of 41 days. For the sixth violation, the board revoked the Blue Light’s beer permit in November 2021. These cases have been appealed and are currently pending.
The latest charge of operating a disorderly place and the failure to report it to police was made again for an incident that took place on Jan. 22. Nobody from the bar called the police emergency number or 911 to report the confrontation. A female who alleged a sexual assault made the call to the police about an hour after it happened. According to the police report, it stated a black male “slapped a woman on the butt” and she returned the slap. The man then punched her in the face and his sister then threw a drink in the woman’s face and also slapped her. The security present did not see the altercation when it started but the manager that night agreed to email surveillance video to the police. That was never done. Failure to report a disorder to police was the same reason that the bar’s beer license had been suspended in November.
This incident from January 2022 was sent to mediation, but the Beer Board rejected the decision, choosing instead to make the judgment. The woman and a witness related what had taken place to a police officer when he arrived at the bar around 2:10 a.m. Video from the officer’s body camera showed the questioning by the officer. A police report records the time of night that the pair said the assault had occurred, which they estimated was from around 12:50 p.m.-1 a.m. The officer also requested a copy of video from security cameras inside and was told it would be emailed to him, however it never was sent.
Attorney Scott Maucere, representing the bar, brought a flash drive to the beer board meeting Thursday with the requested video. While it was shown, co-owner Brian Joyce narrated. The time stamp on the video corresponded to the exact times written in the police report but had no date stamp. And the woman could not be identified on the images that the beer board was shown. During the time of the video that was provided, there also was no fight or disorder visible in the area described to the police.
Mr. Joyce said the private security officers had escorted the perpetrators out the door when the woman complained, which is what they were supposed to do. He said no phone call was made to report an incident because the manager did not verify that an assault actually happened, so they had no duty to call.
Thinking out loud, said Board Member Dan Mayfield, the report was not made for an hour and during that time the woman continued to hang out at the bar. But the women could have had their times wrong, commented a board member. Also, there was no video available from the front door to see when the man was escorted out.
A motion was made by board member Ron Smith and seconded by Mr. Mayfield to not sustain the motion finding the bar in violation of the city’s ordinances for the January incident. The vote was three approving the motion and two opposed. Without the five required votes, the motion failed so no action will be taken for this violation.
The board also took no action on a charge that Westbound Bar across the street from Blue Light at 43 Station St. operates a disorderly place and for failure to report a disorder to police on Dec. 18, 2021. Video of an incident that night showed an altercation at the front door when an intoxicated, disorderly male customer tried to force his way inside and security guards kept him outside. Attorney for Westbound, Matthew Brock, told the board that the guard was alleviating a problem, which is what he was hired to do. As this was happening, additional security guards came the door to assist. “In all fairness, this is what you want to happen,” said board member Smith, who said he had not seen a real fight.
A new city policy will be put in place that has been approved by Police Chief Celeste Murphy, said attorney Brock. The bars and restaurants on Station Street will be allowed to hire three off-duty Chattanooga Police officers to provide security. They will stay outside on Station Street on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m.