Pittsfield Licensing Board: Thistle & Mirth Responded Appropriately to January Fight
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Licensing Board has decided that a popular bar's response to a fight that resulted in injury was appropriate and does not warrant a suspension.
On Monday, the panel filed a show cause hearing for Thistle and Mirth's liquor license related to two disturbances that occurred on Jan. 7 and Jan. 13. It had been continued from February because of the board's objection to the heavily redacted police report.
The first incident was an argument that took place outside of the West Street restaurant and the second, which prompted a referral to the Licensing Board, involved a stabbing and a window being broken.
"The Jan. 7 incident was only brought forward as a possible pattern because the next incident happened a week later," Police Capt. Gary Traversa said.
It was concluded that the fight was not a result of overserving or overcapacity and that staff responded appropriately by calling the police and clearing the bar.
Shortly after 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 13, multiple officers were dispatched for a reported large fight inside of the bar. Upon arrival, staff was working to clear the venue after calling 911.
Through the redacted report, Chair Thomas Campoli observed that someone appeared to have suffered an abdominal injury from being stabbed with a knife. Traversa confirmed this, disclosing that the person received medical attention for it.
There are no criminal charges, as the victim could not provide usable information.
The fight was captured on video that was posted to social media as well as on surveillance footage from security cameras.
Campoli said the footage showed a "major altercation in the true sense of the word."
"There was a guy that was in a hoodie, hooded sweat shirt-type thing and I think some kind of work boots on and he was being very aggressive, punching people, and then there appeared to be some other punching and fighting going on in the bar," he said.
"So it wasn't just the two guys arguing about something."
Co-owners Joad Bowman and Austin Oliver reported that a group came in together and started the altercation shortly after arriving.
"I talked with a bunch of people. I wasn't there at the time but I watched the video within an hour and my understanding is there were a group of five or six or seven individuals who came in at the same time and those are the ones that, within 10 minutes of entering, started a fight," Bowman explained.
"It seemed like they came in in order to fight."
It was understood that the bar's window was broken from the outside because a person was angry about being thrown out after the fight. The individual is believed to be a person in the fighting group.
"I think what's significant here, at least in part, is that the issue wasn't that they were overserved. This wasn't a situation where people weren't hanging out at Thistle and Mirth drinking, were served too much to drink, and became aggressive," attorney Ethan Klepetar said.
"There was a number of people who came into the bar, do not drink or had very little to drink apparently with intent to start a fight, and as soon as that fight was started, the bartender Zachary Morris called the police and kicked them out."
The bar has security at the door, which has been increased, and surveillance monitoring. The owners also alarmed the back door so that customers cannot let other people in.
He pointed out that there have been no other incidents like this since Jan. 13 and said Thistle and Mirth has not been constantly coming before the board since opening 12 years ago.
"There is not a pattern and the reason there's not a pattern is because they take it really seriously," Klepetar urged.
"They know when you're serving alcohol that issues can happen. It can happen anywhere. It can certainly happen in Pittsfield and they take it very seriously. They took these incidents very seriously."
Board member Richard Stockwell proposed issuing a three-day suspension that will only go into effect if there is another incident in six months as an "insurance policy."
"It will keep management and employees on their toes," he said.
This was not supported by his colleagues. It was argued that the incident was not related to typical licensing issues such as overserving or overcapacity.
"I really think that you're doing your due diligence, keeping your establishments safe for those that want to go in and when they go in they're as safe as they can be," board member Kathy Amuso said.
Board member Dennis Powell pointed to the bar's consistent communication with the police, which was confirmed by Traversa.
"To me, I don't think it warrants any kind of suspension," he said. "Yeah, I realize something happened, someone was injured but it wasn't because of management, wasn't because they didn't have procedures in place."
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