Sons Of Boston Liquor license suspended after bouncer charged with killing Marine veteran
By WBZ Staff
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BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Boston’s Licensing Board voted unanimously Thursday to indefinitely suspend Sons of Boston’s liquor license, saying, “it is unsafe for them to continue to operate.”
The license was up for review because a bouncer was charged with killing a Marine veteran outside the bar last month.
Alvaro Larrama, a 38-year-old bouncer at Sons of Boston, is charged with murder after police say he stabbed 23-year-old Daniel Martinez of Illinois on Union Street March 19.
In their decision, the board cited “multiple violations” and a systematic failure on the part of Sons of Boston to provide a safe environment for customers and follow city protocols, adding that the bar has shown a “pattern of negligence.”
“The entire security operation from beginning to end was a failure,” board chair Kathleen Joyce said during Thursday’s vote. “The failure to have a security plan, the absence of any meaningful training plan in place on March 19, and the lack of management led to serious public safety issues, and now Daniel Martinez is dead. I believe his death was foreseeable and preventable.”
During testimony before the Licensing Board on Tuesday, the bar’s manager revealed they did not do a background check on Larrama. Commissioner Liam Curran characterized the lack of a background check as “willful ignorance.”
Bar managers said Larrama had no prior incidents. The bar’s attorney turned over hours of surveillance video which board members reviewed before their vote.
During Thursday morning’s meeting, the board laid out their evidence, saying Larrama was working security with a weapon but didn’t have approval for that.
The video also showed what the board called management’s failure to respond, noting they failed to call 911 after the stabbing and even watched other employees give Larrama a change of clothes before he walked out the back door.
Sons of Boston has been in trouble for security issues before and the board said the evidence in this case made their decision clear.
“I believe it’s unsafe for them to continue to operate. Someone died directly at the hands of their staff. Based on their negligent hiring practices, their utter lack of proper training and their recent prior reports of violent staff, it should have been foreseeable that an event like this could have happened,” Joyce said.
“The lack of a proper response, their failure to detain Mr. Larrama or call the police and video footage that appears to show other staff helping Mr. Larrama change his clothes and leave is a serious breach of their required duty of care.”
Martinez’s family said they will soon file a civil lawsuit against the bar.
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