After hours of debate, including several heated exchanges, the Chattanooga Beer Board voted to suspend the license of the Blue Light nightclub in Chattanooga on Thursday.
The nightclub faced violations from a disorder that happened back on April 1st.
Chattanooga Police bodycam showed at the Beer Board meeting has an officer reporting a "large free-for-all" at the club on Station Street.
The footage showed the aftermath of the fight between two women.
Blue Light owner Brian Joyce admitted that he didn't call 911 when the fight broke out. Before the Beer Board, Joyce explained that as the fight was breaking out, everyone heard what sounded like gunshots, but was actually a motorcycle backfiring.
Joyce said inside the nightclub he was "dealing with chaos" in the fight's aftermath, and he was focused on getting everyone to calm down. By the time he was able to call police, Joyce said, officers were already on the scene.
There are sometimes situations where an immediate call is just not possible,” Joyce told Beer Board members.
Two days later, he said, he wrote to Chattanooga Police Sgt. Jason Wood about the incident, alerting them of the situation. He says the gunshots occurred 60-90 seconds after he ejected the two women who were fighting from his bar, giving him little time to call CPD.
Joyce provided security video of the fight, which showed his security guards break up the fight, remove two women, before it continued on the street. Seconds later, a motorcycle can be seen driving off, sending dozens of customers streaming into Blue Light out of panic.
Although admitting to not calling 911, Joyce pointed out that he did speak with the victims, police and reviewed video in the days after the fight.
He says the club has since banned nine people from Blue Light.
“I went through enormous pain and efforts to work with police and the victims to find and ban these idiots,” Joyce said.
Then a heated debate began between Joyce and Interim Chattanooga City Attorney Phil Noblett over a probationary period the board gave the Blue Light last fall.
Noblett said a security plan from the nightclub was supposed to be filed by the Blue Light by November 30th, after it was put on probation. Joyce said that was incorrect, saying he reached out on November 15th and sent a plan on December 8th.
We reached out to the city for a copy of the agreement. The document was signed on October 28th, 2022.
The agreement reads: "On or before November 30, 2022, Diceman Enterprises, LLC The Blue Light, hereinafter "Blue Light," shall co-operate with the development of a written operational plan for public protection and order on Station Street reached with the city of Chattanooga/Chattanooga Police Department/Chattanooga Beer and Wrecker Board as appropriate."
Joyce argues that the agreement only means that he needs to start on the plan by the 30th, while Noblett claims that it meant completed by the 30th. The agreement does not include the term completed.
There was nothing in this agreement that states I'm supposed to have a completed plan by November 30. I'm not taking that to court either, because I'm not going to waste more legal fees on this," Joyce said.
The tensions escalated, after Noblett said the board was reviewing the ninth and 10th violations against Blue Light. Joyce retorted that seven violations came before the settlement and they were only discussing the two most recent violations.
Noblett responded by reading out all seven previous violations, in combination with the violations post-agreement. An adamant Joyce called Noblett a liar, with Noblett replying that Joyce was a liar, too. The two men stared at each other for several seconds.
Watch a portion of the exchange below:
The board ended up sustaining the violation against the Blue Light for not calling 911 after the fight.
Other police bodycam video presented before the board shows customers at Blue Light drinking beer on the morning on May 19th and 20th past the time of a curfew on the sale of alcohol on Station Street.
"We appealed. That's why I'm here!" said Joyce.
Joyce says since their appeal was in progress, they were still allowed to serve alcohol.
City Attorney Phil Noblett says they never received the appeal, because it was emailed, not hand-delivered.
"They've always been served on our office before physically served. They are not served by email," says Noblett.
Frustrating Joyce who says he already paid for the appeal's filing.
"All I know is that I have the appeals right here," said Joyce.
Joyce wouldn't say if he planned to appeal the board's decision. His license would temporarily be re-instated during the legal process.
The board decided to postpone a vote on the bar's other two violations until their next meeting.
Depend on us to keep you posted.