Barflies behaving badly: East Boston bartender pelted with Corona bottle; Back Bay bouncer gets into grappling match with patron over bill

A woman told she couldn't bring a bottle of beer with her at closing time at Barney's Grill, 299 Havre St. in East Boston, reacted by hurling the bottle at the bartender, hitting her in the chest, the bartender and police told the Boston Licensing Board today.

In a separate incident, a member of a troublesome group who wanted to rescind a $40 tip at Lolita, 271 Dartmouth St. in the Back Bay, shoved the manager - and then found himself grabbed by a bouncer, who, after both the shover and he wound up on the floor, dragged him out of the bar.

The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday whether either incident merits sanctions and, if so, of what sort.

Around 1:45 a.m. on Jan. 21, a man who had ordered a Corona near closing time was told he could not bring the bottle with him outside at closing - it's against state law.

A BPD officer who responded to a report of a fight outside the bar told the board that he arrived to find three people with possible injuries - the bartender and the two suspects. He said that when the man was told by the bar's doorman to leave the bottle, he refused at firs to give it up, saying he'd paid for it and he had the right to bring it with him. Then, the officer said, the man's girlfriend grabbed the bartender and hurled it inside, hitting the bartender.

The two suspects told the officer that the enraged bartender came out and slammed the woman's head into the pavement at least three times - and she and he both had various bruises and scratches. The bartender, however, said the woman grabbed her by the shirt - the officer said her shirt was, in fact, ripped, but that she had no visible injuries.

Both women were taken to local hospitals for observation. Police charged only the girlfriend of the man with the beer, after, the officer said, interviewing several witnesses who said that whatever happened, she was the "primary aggressor."

On the night of Feb. 6, a group of 10 or so people got a table at Lolita. The bar manager told police that he and his staff kept a close watch on them, because some seemed to have already enjoyed some drinks elsewhere and that over the course of their roughly 90 minutes inside, staffers cut most of them off from further drinking, but agreed to let them stay at the table with their friends. The manager said he decided they had to leave when a woman at the table went behind the bar to start berating a bartender over being cut off.

One of the women signed for the bill, and included a $40 tip, but the group decided they didn't want to give a tip after all and one of the men started arguing with the manager over it. The manager told the board he decided he was not going to process a change in the bill after it had already been processed, in part because of the extra work staffer had had to do with the group. Even after printing up eight copies of the bill for the increasingly restive people, one guy kept arguing, then grabbed a copy the manager had and shoved him.

That's when a bouncer grabbed the man from behind. "The two of them were on the floor at one point," the manager told the board. The bouncer got up first, and dragged the man out.

The manager said afterwards, he fired the bouncer and that the rest of his staff has since undergone re-training on techniques for trying to de-escalate situations - and how to intercede earlier when a table is showing increased signs of restiveness.