License Commission continues hearing on Squire fight

  The Squire Club appeared before the License Commission last Wednesday for a hearing regarding a fight that happened at the club in February. The commission continued the hearing until its next meeting in May because the two police officers who were slated to give testimony about the incident were unable to attend Wednesday’s hearing.

  However, Squire manager Peter DePesa updated the commission on steps he has taken since the fight on Feb. 28 and said those involved in the incident have been banned from the club. “Since that night, we have barred everyone that was there that night,” said DePesa. “It’s a group from Lynn, and we have all their IDs and names and information.” DePesa said the club uses a machine that scans licenses and takes photos of patrons entering the establishment. He added that the group did attempt to return to the club after the date of the fight, but the police detail barred their entry.

  In addition, DePesa said the club added more outdoor lighting in the parking lot and has worked with the police to make sure the club’s security personnel have more easily identifiable uniforms that show up better on surveillance video. “I also changed our soda glasses to plastic acrylic, so those are some small steps we have taken so, hopefully, nothing like this happens again,” said DePesa.

  DePesa said the incident stemmed from an incident between a boyfriend and girlfriend that quickly got out of control.

  License Commission Chair Robert Selevitch said DePesa and the security staff might want to come up with better contingency plans to make sure future incidents don’t escalate as quickly. “The fight breaks out and, obviously, spreads very quickly,” said Selevitch. “Once these things happen, it is very difficult to control, but it seems if you were able to deploy the security staff in such a way; for example, if you put one up on a riser so they are able to overlook the crowd and not through it, there might be a better opportunity of getting in front of things before they start getting out of control.”

  Selevitch also questioned why on the video the night of the incident it appeared that people were being let into the club at 1:28 a.m., two minutes before last call. DePesa said he would take a closer look at the video, but noted that people use the door to go outside and smoke, so it could have been people who were already in the club.

  The official hearing into the incident was continued until the commission’s May meeting.