People representing Northwest D.C.’s Mood Lounge tried to pass off bloodstains as cranberry juice and misled inspectors about surveillance footage following a double stabbing at the club, a city report has found.
The lounge, a frequent site for fights, was shut down by the city on New Year’s Eve pending an investigation by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. A report issued last week by the board found that the club’s security personnel tried to hinder their investigation and the club owner lied to inspection officers.
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A club employee also lied about bloodstains in front of the establishment, according to the report.
“When the security chief was asked about copious amounts of blood spilled immediately outside the establishment, he indicated to investigators that it was just ‘cranberry juice,'” the report said.
The nightclub was the subject of 61 calls to police in 2011, half of which were classified for disorderly conduct.
But Mood Lounge spokeswoman Sherrell Adams told The Washington Examiner on Monday that the Mt. Vernon Square establishment is being unfairly targeted by neighbors who don’t want a nightclub near them, period.
Adams added it was a bartender, not a security officer, who spoke to investigators about the bloodstain.
“Why he would state it was cranberry juice, I couldn’t tell you,” she said.
The report was prompted by a Dec. 30 attack in which two men were stabbed outside the Ninth Street club early that morning after a fight broke out inside. Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans immediately called for the club’s closing; Police Chief Cathy Lanier determined it was a “threat to public safety” and shut it down.
The report notes no one from the nightclub bothered to call the police after the stabbing and when police investigated the incident that morning, they were greeted by the smell of marijuana when they entered the club, the report said.
When ABRA investigators visited Mood Lounge last week, owner Mimi Beyene told them none of her employees had heard the fight, a statement that was later contradicted by her security officer. She also said none of her surveillance cameras were working, although investigators later learned several cameras were working that night.
Adams said Monday that the cameras’ playback is malfunctioning and they are trying to get it fixed.
Investigators are still waiting for the owner to produce a tape of the incident. A hearing to determine whether the lounge can get back its liquor license is scheduled for Friday.
