Stabbing, robbery, brawl: Board to investigate what's going on when the bars close on Bennington Street in East Boston

After hearing reports of violent closing-time incidents outside a cluster of Bennington Street bars, the Boston Licensing Board said today it would haul the bars in for a hearing to determine what's going on and what to do about it.

In the most recent incident, a man was stabbed around 2:25 a.m. on Saturday on Bennington Street near Marion Street. Around the same time, another man was robbed of about $1,000 and beaten up on Bennington Street between Marion and Meridian streets.

A BPD sergeant and officer came before the board specifically to discuss a Jan. 10 closing-time incident outside Bohemios, 30 Bennington St., in which police tried to quell a series of fights that kept erupting even as police began to arrive. Police told the board that one guy, whom they'd managed to get to stop fighting, walked away, came back and sucker punched somebody just standing on the sidewalk. He also screamed racial epithets at a black officer before he was placed under arrest and in a cruiser.

"We've had a number of incidents in that lower Bennington area," Sgt. William Toner told the board.

In response to a question from board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini, Toner acknowledged it is proving difficult to get victims and witnesses to talk to police, because many are immigrants and are reluctant to talk to police despite Boston's status as a sanctuary city.

Pulgini said that at the hearing she will call, the bar owners will have to discuss their security policies and how they plan to disperse patrons safely at closing time.