Westbound Honky-Tonk, 24 Station St., located in Chattanoonga’s entertainment district, has received a three-day suspension of its beer license for serving alcohol to an intoxicated person. The bar also will have a letter of reprimand put in their file for the charge of operating a disorderly place.
The cause for the penalties stem from an incident on July 27 that started after a couple arrived around 12:30 p.m. By 1:34 they had bought $192.82 worth of alcohol that is recorded on a printed receipt. They were cut off from more sales at 1:38 a.m. and given water, but during the one hour they were there, 13 different drinks were served to the couple. Two double vodka drinks were dropped on the floor, then replaced.
Michael Hardin, owner of the bar, said an average pour is 1.25 ounces. It is not known if they were buying rounds and sharing it, but it is known that one drink was given to the DJ.
There were 165 people in the bar that night and four bartenders were serving them all from the single, long bar. The couple went to different bartenders as they were ordering so none of the bartenders recognized they were overserving, it was stated. A fight between the husband and another man broke out at 1:42 a.m. The punch to the head left the husband, a Mr. Lyles, unconscious on the floor bleeding from his nose.
Bar owner Hardin said the security worked efficiently, however, the guard that was supposed to watch the area where the fight happened was locked out of the building at the time, therefore he was not there to stop the fight before it escalated. The bartender who saw what was happening used a flashlight to notify the licensed security guard who responded. One man ran leaving the other unconscious on the floor. The bar’s unlicensed head of security Juan Cuba then notified the Chattanooga Police Department and called EMS. Sergeant Jeffrey Buchner arrived in minutes. He saw the wife who was frantically holding her husband and, when EMS needed to separate them, she fought the officers and was removed from the area.
When Lyles came to, he began to fight the closest person, who was officer Buchner. He had been hurt and hit the man back. It ended with Lt. Buchner’s arm in Lyles’ mouth. It was a chaotic scene, said the officer, and he ordered the bar to be shut down. Lyles was taken to Erlanger Hospital where he again struck at another police officer. After treatment, he was immediately arrested and taken to jail.
Discussion for determining the right penalty to give to Westbound centered on the amount and type of security at the bar in relation to the large number of customers. The bar has a capacity of 220 but that night there were 165 customers. There was just one trained and armed security guard from Global Protections and five members of the staff that “act as the eyes” for the business but are not certified security guards. Their responsibility is to notify their boss, Mr. Cuba, who comes to de-escalate a situation, or to notify the licensed guard, who usually is at the door.
In defense of the bar, Officer Buchner said that management provided video immediately and Westbound has worked with police extremely well. The way that the staff failed, said attorney Phil Spitalny, was that they did not walk the troublemakers to the front and call Uber or get them to leave.
The three-day suspension, along with a strong recommendation that there should be more licensed security guards present, will begin in two weeks on Aug. 31, Labor Day weekend.