Pair of loudmouth transphobes started a fight in a Chinatown restaurant that left one victim covered in blood from where he was smashed in the head with a glass, police say

A couple of men who began shouting "derogatory and transphobic words" at a drag queen grabbing an early morning meal last October at New Moon Villa, 15-19 Edinboro St. in Chinatown made things physical and when another person tried to break up the incipient fight, smashed a glass on his head and struck him with a chair, police told the Boston Licensing Board at a hearing yesterday.

Police arrived around 3:25 a.m. on Oct. 27 to find the man covered in blood from the "deep laceration in his scalp," District A-1 Sgt. Kevin Plunkett told the board, adding the man also had cuts on his arms. A woman who was with him had his blood on her as well, he said.

The transphobes, both Black, one wearing a green hoodie and a green ball cap, had fled by the time police arrived, possibly in a Suburban last seen heading onto I-93 north. Police say the incident remains under investigation by BPD civil-rights detectives.

The board could decide Thursday whether New Moon Villa could have prevented the fight - and whether it could have done more to help police.

Plunkett said that when he and other officers first arrived, restaurant staffers at the door hesitated to let them in, "saying the fight was over" - even as officers spotted the two people covered in blood inside. And the restaurant never provided video from its surveillance cameras, police said.

Through an interpreter, owner Wen Jian Lin said it was the restaurant that first called 911 and that staffers were not trying to stop police from coming in, only to alert them that the suspects had fled.

He added that he does not know how to operate the restaurant camera system to retrieve video and that police never contacted his daughter, who does. A BPD detective, however, said another detective dropped off a thumb drive for her, but she never returned it with video.

Board members told Lin they're getting tired of video problems at New Moon Villa. Board member Liam Curran said Lin was told specifically in 2019 - after another early morning brawl - that he, or somebody on his staff, need to save copies of video of any violent incident and hand them over to police and the board.

In 2015, the board suspended the restaurant's license for five days after police complained it failed to turn over video from a series of incidents, including a gang shootout that left six people injured. At the time, the restaurant's owner said the problem was that his system was broken and he had been trying to repair it.