The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday whether the Playwright, 658 E. Broadway in South Boston, could have done anything to prevent a Feb. 6 incident in which a patron decided it was a good idea to beat another man in the head with a beer bottle - and to keep beating him in the head with the bottle even after it broke, opening a gash that required both staples and stitches to close.
A Boston Police detective told the board this morning that after the incident, the man and his wife walked down Broadway to the Boston Beer Garden. He said police knew that because one of the victim's friends made a point of following the guy - and calling 911 to let police know where to find him.
The detective said that when an officer interviewed the man, he acted as if he had no idea what the officer was inquiring about. Nope, he said, he didn't smash anybody in the head with a beer bottle, let alone a green one at the Playwright. His wife backed him up, saying nope, nothing happened.
Unfortunately for the man, a Playwright manager, on hearing what happened and after offering assistance to the victim, immediately went to his bar's video system, which he testified showed pretty clearly the guy smashing the victim in the head with the bottle. Now the guy faces criminal charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, the detective said, adding the Playwright was fully cooperative with police.
Police say the attack began after the victim went to get his girlfriend's jacket from a chair near the guy, which for some reason triggered a bottle-smashing rage.
The manager, who said he knows the victim, said the man declined an offer for an ambulance Instead, he got a cab for a trip up to the Tufts Medical Center ER, police said.
On Thursday, the board will consider what to do about two citations: One for patron-on-patron violence, the other for failing to call police about the incident. At this morning's hearing, the manager said he didn't call police at the time because he knew the victim's friend had called police.