WASHINGTON — The liquor license of a popular bar on Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest D.C. has been suspended after five people were injured in a stabbing incident, with the report from the licensing board claiming that patrons attacked police officers and employees of the bar escorted the assailant out of the bar instead of holding him for the police.
Calling McFadden’s “an imminent danger” to the public’s health and safety, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board made the decision on Tuesday after an investigation by the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration of the incident in the early morning hours of Saturday. The bar had been closed since 4 p.m. Saturday by order of Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
The report from ABRA, based on interviews with patrons and staff, details a wild incident in which bar patrons who were being ejected attacked the police who responded to McFadden’s at about 1:05 a.m. One patron, who was being arrested, hit an officer in the back of the head, the report says. Another one reportedly tried to punch an officer several times.
It all began with an argument between an assailant and a group of people who were there to celebrate a birthday, the report says. Five people were stabbed; none of them cooperated with the police. One was under 21.
The report goes on to say that two employees of McFadden’s grabbed someone who may have been the alleged assailant and had blood on his hands, but instead of holding him until the police got there, a security videotape from an apartment building next door showed them opening a garage door and letting him leave. They also reportedly were uncooperative with the police, and had to be threatened with arrest to tell the police anything.
Another club employee was seen by patrons as he mopped blood off the floor of the bar, thus compromising the crime scene before investigators could get there.
#McFaddens liquor license suspended. Sports fans alt viewing at Sign of the Whale http://t.co/hcfzUJEQJZ #WTOP pic.twitter.com/YB7mIYDyn5
— Kristi King (@kingWTOP) December 31, 2014
Also, the report says that there were not enough security personnel to adequately cover the size of the crowd; there were three security officers for an estimated 215 patrons in the bar, which has a capacity of 136. The bar did not keep a detailed count of how many people were in the establishment, and security officers didn’t have radios, the report continues.
McFadden’s has 72 hours to ask for a hearing.
Read the report here:
NOTICE OF SUSPENSION FOR MCFADDENS
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