A popular watering hole on Cleveland’s West End that caters to the LGBT crowd has been told by city officials to stop calling its police force so much despite a recent string of hate attacks. In a letter dated Sept. 6, Martin L. Flask, the director of public safety for the City, writes, in part, that: “The estimated cost for the City safety forces to respond to your property is approximately $100.00 per call for service. I am confident that we share the same goal and that you will take the necessary steps to eliminate the repeated calls for police services to your property. Therefore, within 10 days of the date of this letter, you will be required to submit your action plan to the First District Neighborhood Police Commander (623-5105), outlining your strategy to eliminate the problems at this location.”
The bar, aptly called Cocktails, has seen a rise in the number of attacks outside its facility since spring. In the most recent attack, 28-year-old Jared Fox was brutally beaten by a gang of twenty men on his way out of the club, leaving him with a ruptured eardrum and a bloodied and bruised face.
Patrick “Ric” Scardino, a community activist and long-time friend of Cocktails’ owner Brian Lyons, remains unfazed. “I’ll protect every last person in the neighborhood,” he recently said after successfully beating back a pack of teens who were lobbing what he describes as “cantaloupe”-sized rocks at and into the property while yelling sexual epithets.
For his part, Flask has recanted his statement after outrage ensued over what many in the LGBT community see as a blame-the-victim mentality. “If I had to do it over again, I would have handled this particular situation differently. After reviewing this issue with Mayor (Frank) Jackson, he has directed me to rescind the letter and instead set up a meeting with the district commander and the property owners so that we can work together to address the issues raised by the calls for service to 9208 Detroit Avenue.”
Mayor Jackson has not spoken publicly of the kerfuffle as of yet.
wow-the police are gonna lose big in the lawsuit-what deuchebags