LOWELL — The drinks will not flow at Tescobar Performance Center for three days in September when the License Commission found the venue in violation of its liquor license after a street brawl during which a Lowell Police officer was knocked unconscious.
“That night was totally out of control and ridiculous,” Commissioner Dennis Mercier said during the Thursday night public hearing.
His motion to suspend Tescobar’s license unanimously passed. The bar will serve the suspension from Sept. 25-27.
The incident happened shortly after 1 a.m., outside of Tescobar at 72 Middlesex St., which has been the scene of previous police responses.
Violations of liquor license
Tescobar Performance Center is a large-capacity entertainment venue that can accommodate up to 350 guests in its 4,000 square feet of floor space. A flyer for the venue posted on its social platforms advertised the event as “Raised in the 978: Lowell Folk Fest After Party,” from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Promoters advertised VIP table booking with “bottle service available,” where patrons could have entire bottles of liquor delivered directly to their table, bypassing the line at the bar.
According to police reports, two separate altercations took place inside the venue, which were allegedly handled by onsite security personnel, but were serious enough for management to close the venue early.
For not notifying the police of those incidents, Tescobar was found in violation of Section 1.16 Manager’s Responsibilities of the Lowell License Commission Rules and Regulations.
“Given the apparent escalation in patron behavior, the licensee should have reasonably anticipated the potential for additional disturbances at closing time and taken appropriate steps to mitigate that risk, including requesting police assistance,” said Lowell Police Superintendent Gregory Hudon in a report filed with the commission.
Instead, Hudon said, patrons were allowed to congregate outside the establishment, “where the crowd continued to grow before ultimately becoming violent.”
‘Chaotic’ crowd spills out onto Middlesex Street
Exiting the venue with the other almost 350 patrons was Malakai Linton, a 20-year-old Chelmsford man.
The drinking age in Massachusetts is 21 and providing alcohol to underage patrons is a criminal offense and a violation of established state laws. But thanks to a quirk in Lowell’s liquor ordinance, there are no “bars” in Lowell.
Establishments like Tescobar, that hold a common victualler license, are classified as a restaurant with an alcohol license, and it is not unlawful for them to admit patrons under 21 years of age, provided that they are only served food and not alcohol.
In his report to the commission, Hudon said footage obtained by the department’s Crime Analysis Unit, that was posted to social media platforms, depicted the “20-year-old male, who later assaulted a Lowell Police Officer walking freely throughout the establishment on multiple occasions while holding what appears to be alcoholic beverages.”
Officer assaulted
After exiting the bar, Linton wound up in a confrontation with another man that resulted in his mother, who accompanied her son to the venue, to be knocked out. Linton jumped the alleged assailant.
As Officer Joao Bettencourt-Freitas tried to tried to gain control of Linton by deploying his Taser multiple times, Linton allegedly threw the punch that knocked out Bettencourt-Freitas.
At the public hearing, officers described Linton as “intoxicated.”
“Mr. Linton was extremely agitated,” Officer Liam Phillips testified before the commission. “He had glassy, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.”
Tescobar was charged with a violation of Section 1.21, which requires licensees to refuse entrance to the premises to a person who appears to be intoxicated or unruly and/or to evict such a person.
“The licensee failed to comply with the Lowell License Commission Rules and Regulations governing the operation of licensed premises,” Hudon said.
Linton was charged in Lowell District Court with three criminal counts, including disorderly conduct, affray and assault and battery on a police officer. He was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court again later this month.
Tescobar denies all violations
Picante Entertainment Group Inc., doing business as Tesco Center or Tescobar, was represented at the hearing by attorney Brian Akashian, of Murphy Akashian Law in Chelmsford.
Akashian, who served on the Lowell License Commission from 2008 to 2014, denied all the allegations on behalf of Ernesto Lugo, of Malden, who is the registered agent for the business.
“It was terrible what happened to the Lowell Police officer,” Akashian said. “It is our position that Tescobar did everything within the rules and regulations of the city of Lowell that the License Commission has established.”
He said Tescobar would not appeal the suspension to the state’s Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
Tescobar put on notice
Assistant City Solicitor Thomas Woods reminded the commissioners that this was Tescobar’s third compliance hearing in less than six months.
“The chaos that was caused that night was from Tescobar’s inability to maintain the premises in a reasonable manner,” Woods said.
Bettencourt-Freitas is still out of work from the injuries he sustained from responding to the brawl at Tescobar six weeks ago.
If further violations occur, the License Commission can roll back Tescobar’s operating hours, which is not a reviewable action by the ABCC.
“He needs to button up what’s going on,” Chair Joseph Donahue said about Lugo’s operation of Tescobar.
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