Employing a rarely used law, Baltimore City’s police commissioner is expected to padlock a Reservoir Hill bar today — closing down the business for a year.
Citing a rash of criminal activity at Linden Bar and Liquors, including a recent homicide, Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld ordered the business locked down at 5 p.m.
“Linden Liquors is a catalyst for violence,” Bealefeld said in a statement.
“We can keep sending police cars there every night, but to really make the neighborhood safer, we need to close these places down.”
Attempts to reach the store’s owner, Chang K. Yim, and his attorney, Peter Prevas, on Sunday were unsuccessful.
Kim has argued that violence in and around his bar on the 900 block of West North Avenue is not his fault, and he’s hired a security guard.
Sterling Clifford, Bealefeld’s spokesman, said the commissioner has carefully considered Yim’s “facts and evidence” but determined the bar remains a blight on the neighborhood.
“The owners there have not done what needs to be done to prevent violence at their establishment,” he said.
Today’s closing marks the first time in 15 years a police commissioner has used a nuisance law to close down a business.
Baltimore City public nuisance laws allow the police department to close for up to a year establishments that present a consistent threat to the safety and security of a neighborhood. Under the law, Yim can appeal Bealefeld’s decision to the Baltimore City Circuit Court.
Clifford said a July 19 homicide at the store was just the latest in a string of crimes there. Police charged Maurice Fullwood, 28, with the killing of Omar Phillips, 35, at Linden Liquors.
“The owners of Linden Liquors have been allowing drug activity in and around their stores for too long,” Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said in a statement.
“It is time for them to close and allow the neighborhood to move forward.”
Bealefeld also has moved to close Jimmy’s Carryout in Reservoir Hill, calling it, like Linden Liquors, a “problem establishment.”
During the past 18 months, police have logged more than 17 incidents of violence or drug activity at the two stores.
A hearing for Jimmy’s Carryout is scheduled for Sept. 9.
