FITCHBURG —After two incidents took place at Tryst Lounge on April 17, including one where a suspect allegedly tossed a bottle at a bouncer, the Board of License Commissioners on Monday decided the bar was not at fault for the incidents and did not suspend its liquor license.
Based on the recommendation from Lt. Jeffrey Howe, the board decided not to order a summons hearing for the bar because there was no apparent misconduct on the part of Tryst Lounge.
“There did not appear to be any wrongdoing on the part of the licensee,” said Chairman Daniel Sarfield. “The individual was clearly inebriated but there was no evidence there to decide whether or not it constituted a violation.”
Sarfield also said the video provided to the Commission only showed a single hour during the night and it was unclear how long one of the suspects had been there.
In April, Stanley Harris, 25, allegedly got into a verbal altercation with security guards around midnight, according to police Capt. Matthew Lemay.
Harris, a Boston man, then allegedly hurled a beer bottle at the bouncer and it shattered on an inside wall, said Lemay.
He was later charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and vandalizing property for damaging the wall with the bottle.
The second incident occurred about an hour later and involved a 29-year-old Leominster man who was arguing with a security officer at the bar.
According to Howe, Bobby Goldsby was allegedly seen harassing female customers earlier in the night and was then asked to leave by security.
Goldsby allegedly shoved the bouncer and elbowed one of the responding police officers minutes later.
Goldsby was charged with assault and battery, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Howe said Tryst Lounge typically tries to hire an officer for the night, but staffing issues often prevent that from occurring.
Sarfield said the bouncers performed their duties well and conducted themselves properly given the situation.
“The bouncers of the establishment were very responsive to the patrons,” he said. “When the complaint was made, the bouncers immediately tried to remove the individual who was harassing the other patrons.”
Another bar on the hot seat recently has been Beemers Pub & Grill, located at 310 Main St.
Owner Peter Cote was called in for a summons hearing to determine if he was in violation of licencing regulations on Monday. Cote had asked the board for more time to gather information about an incident reported at his bar, and the hearing was continued to July 15.
An incident was reported at Beemers on March 31, 2019, where police were called to investigate a disturbance in the bar parking lot and across the street.
Officer Hiram Velazquez spoke with Cote, who told Velazquez that their bar was not full to capacity and there were about 20 vacancies open during the incident. The License Commission wants to verify this using video from that night.
Later that night, there was another incident at the bar which was not reported to the police. According to the board, that is a violation of License Commission regulations and guidelines.
The board also requested video footage from inside the bar, which Cote recently provided.
During their Monday meeting, the board looked over another notice of violation at Beemers Pub & Grill and ordered a second summons hearing.
On April 20, at approximately 1:39 a.m., Officer Barry Hyvarinen passing by the bar noticed about 20 to 30 individuals involved in an altercation, according to Howe.
Hyvarinen witnessed about 12 of those people fighting, said Howe.
With the help of the Beemers’ security team, Hyvarinen then broke up the fight and investigated its cause.
After speaking with staff members, he found that a second altercation happened earlier in the night. Security allegedly removed one of the parties involved in the fight and allowed the second party to stay.
At closing time, said Howe, the person who was kicked out returned to Beemers and attacked the individual from the earlier fight.
“My concern was that only one person was removed,” said Howe. “Typically, if there was an altercation at an establishment, they both should have been removed. That would have stopped the altercation from taking place later in the night.”
Howe also said Beemers doesn’t usually call for police assistance when they should do so.
The summons hearing will also take place on Monday, July 15.
Daniel Monahan: dmonahan@sentinelandenterprise.com
