South Boston bar ordered shut for a week because of fight that left one woman with broken nose, another with bruised ribs

The Boston Licensing Board today ordered Slainte, 28 W. Broadway, to shut for a week after hearing testimony that a bar bouncer threw a woman down stairs and did nothing when a crowd outside began kicking her and her girlfriend.

It's the second time in less than a year the board has ordered a weeklong shutdown for Slainte, which replaced another bar that shut after one patron stabbed another to death.

At a hearing on Tuesday, one of the victims and a bar manager gave dramatically different versions of what happened around 1:15 a.m. on a gay-friendly night on Aug. 22 - agreeing only that the woman attempted to re-enter the bar after checking on her car as the bar was beginning to close up.

The woman said a bouncer stopped her from coming back in and when she said fine, she just wanted to go get her girlfriend and friend, still inside, he put his hand on her shoulder and began to push her out. She agreed she pushed back, but said that at that point the bouncer spun her around so hard it snapped her watch off her wrist. Then he pushed her outside and down stairs, breaking her nose. Her girlfriend, seeing the commotion, rushed toward the front and was also pushed down the stairs, she said. Then, a crowd outside began yelling at the pair and kicking them. "We ran away at that time," she told the board, adding bar workers stayed inside the whole time and watched through the windows.

A bar manager, while apologizing to the woman, told the board that, in fact, she had elbowed the bouncer and punched him in the face, and that maybe the reason people outside began jeering and kicking was because the woman was yelling racial epithets at a crowd made up mainly of black women. He said bar staff rushed outside and pulled the attackers off the two.

However, he added he had fired the bouncer because he didn't need any more trouble with the licensing board. He also acknowledged the bouncer is about 6' and roughly 250 pounds, compared to the woman who testified, who is 5'6" and 130 pounds.

The board does not set specific dates for sanctioned clubs to shut, letting them pick them - or appeal to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.