Hey, there! Log in / Register

Woman collapses after her drink might have been spiked at a South Boston bar; the sort of thing city officials have been warning about

Update: Board found there was not enough evidence to prove the woman was drugged at the bar, so no violation.

A woman and her friend had just left the Lincoln on West Broadway when they turned the corner onto Dorchester Street and the woman started vomiting and then collapsed. Her friend flagged down a couple of police officers, who immediately radioed for an ambulance, because she was unconscious and her breathing very shallow - but every ambulance in the city was tied up, so they put her in the back of their cruiser and rushed her to Boston Medical Center, where a blood test revealed the presence of ketamine.

The Boston Licensing Board took testimony on the Oct. 31 incident today; it's the second such hearing about spiked drinks in a month, and comes after both the board and Boston Police warned bars to stay alert for patrons getting their drinks spiked.

The Lincoln's general manager and attorney said nobody at the bar had any idea about the incident until some 3 1/2 weeks later, when BPD detectives arrived to issue a citation; by that time, the bar's surveillance system had already taped over the recordings from that night, so there was no way to see who might have spiked the woman's drink.

"We're sorry for what happened to this individual, but [the Lincoln] literally had no knowledge until 3 1/2 weeks later," attorney Dennis Quilty said. "The video had run its course and played over just impossible to retrieve anything at that time." He said that the night of the incident, nobody had complained to anybody at the bar, the police did not arrive for any investigation and nothing seemed out of the ordinary, based on interviews General Manager Will Clark did with employees on duty that night.

Licensing Sgt. Det. William Gallagher said his investigation that led to the citation and today's hearing was delayed because the woman and her friend were both from out of town and it proved difficult contacting them.

Clark said he and his employees were already taking steps to try to prevent drink spiking, both because of the city alerts and because the bar is popular with young people. He said bartenders and servers are trained to quickly remove drinks at the bar or at unoccupied tables, that they keep an eye out for suspicious looking people and that they are all trained in recognizing signs of possible drugging among patrons.

The board will hold a meeting Thursday to decide whether the bar could have done anything more to prevent the incident and, if so, whether any punishment is required.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

Did neither officer on the scene ask her friend what bar they were at when it happened? How many hours of overtime did it take for the police to finally decide to notify the bar 3 and a half weeks later?

up
Voting closed 0

or required by licensing to have X amount of cameras and have them backed up for years. Which one would you rather the establishment purchase?

up
Voting closed 0

Just send a cop over there after they realized a crime had been committed. You know, do the job we're already paying them for.

up
Voting closed 0

up
Voting closed 0

Some people misbehave so others need to drink all drinks out of sippy cups?

up
Voting closed 2

Some people misbehave so others need to drink all drinks out of sippy cups?

Wow, that sure wouldn't be my interpretation. I'd say that this is something that bars could offer as an option to those who don't want to get roofied.

up
Voting closed 2

Mmm, I really want to drink a martini through a hole in a tinfoil lid…/s

up
Voting closed 0

"Licensing Sgt. Det. William Gallagher said his investigation that led to the citation and today's hearing was delayed because the woman and her friend were both from out of town and it proved difficult contacting them."

It's been my experience that cops and even the DA's office never leave voicemails and often call from unlisted/blocked numbers, instead of calling from a number that registers as being from their office.

It's their way of avoiding work. Can't have a case load if your victims never call you back.

up
Voting closed 0

Absolutely insane take on this story!

up
Voting closed 0

Maybe time to stop taping over things...

Sure would be nice if people taught their sons about consent and what no means from an early age.

up
Voting closed 0

I do believe that the videos are gone. I don't believe that they were ever on "tape." Their system is most likely all digital and the old files get auto-deleted after some amount of time.

up
Voting closed 0

I know it's not 1985.

I used that reference b/c it's states in the article "by that time, the bar's surveillance system had already taped over the recordings from that night."

But thanks for the mansplain. Just curious why you didn't bring that up to Adam?

up
Voting closed 0

They should be required to buy petabytes of storage. But what if something happened a year ago and police want to review the footage? Petabytes won’t be enough, require them to buy exabytes of storage. But what if something happens 10 years from now? Exabytes won’t be enough, require them to buy yottabytes of storage. Just continue to require them to buy storage until they’re spending every penny on storage and go out of business.

/s

up
Voting closed 0

Just how much data storage should a restaurant have to lay out for in order to satisfy someone who doesn't know what they're talking about?

up
Voting closed 0

1, 2, 3? 10? 52? 1000?

And then I'd like to see a cost estimation.

up
Voting closed 0

Maybe businesses should keep files for a month and then delete?

up
Voting closed 0

the bartender refused me taking a round of 4 drinks to my cousins. told me each person had to grab their own glass from the bar.

up
Voting closed 0

The perfect version of ketamine for spiking drinks would be the liquid version used in operating rooms. Playing armchair detective I believe a hospital employee will be implicated.

up
Voting closed 0