Deprived of his bike lock, the angry man resorted to his teeth in fight with billiards-parlor bouncer

A man who was upset to be asked to leave El Diamante Billiards at 71 Meridian St. after a bouncer watched him pass a small plastic bag filled with white powder to another patron responded by getting into two fights with the bouncer, during one of which he bit down hard on the bouncer's cheek, police and the bouncer said today.

At a Boston Licensing Board hearing, police say the were called to the billiards parlor around 12:05 a.m. on May 7 on a report of a disturbance outside. Det. Daniel MacDonald told the Boston Licensing Board that a large crowd had gathered to watch as a man stood in the doorway screaming "Security! Security! Security!"

MacDonald and an El Diamante bouncer said the man was refusing to leave despite losing two fights to the bouncer. They said that, angry after being told he couldn't pass drugs around inside, the man threw first a napkin and then a beer bottle to the floor, then as he was heading towards the door, grabbed the bouncer's earphones and ripped them off his head.

The bouncer said he tried to grab the earphones back and the two wound up on the ground - where he noticed the guy had a bike lock in one hand. The bouncer said he quickly gained control of the man grabbed the bike lock and tossed it a distance away outside - and told the guy he'd let him go if he'd just leave. The guy agreed, got up and walked away.

But, the bouncer continued, as he walked back inside the billiards place, the man came back in, with the bike lock, which he began moving it around as if he intended to use it, and not for locking a bike. The bouncer said the man came at him and he backed up until he found himself in a corner, at which point he felt he had to go on the offensive. Again, he said, he quickly got control of the bike lock and the man, who eventually "started to relax" and began to go "alright, let me go." The bouncer did. The man jumped him again, knocked him to the ground and "bit me in the cheek," he said. Two exiting patrons managed to get the guy off the bouncer and helped restrain him until police arrive.

The man, MacDonald said, was charged with assault and battery, destruction of personal property of less than $250 and disturbing the peace.

The licensing board decides Thursday what action, if any to take, although board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini said that the bouncer, the victim in the case, didn't do anything wrong.