CINCINNATI — The City of Cincinnati has filed a lawsuit against the owners of Memories Lounge, calling for the bar and nightclub's permanent closure, just days after a 20-year-old man was killed in a shooting at the business.
The city filed the lawsuit against Memories Lounge owners Deandrea Kirkpatrick and Ethan Riesenfeld, as well as Memories Lounge LLC and DP 12 LLC.
The lawsuit comes after a Nov. 1 shooting where 20-year-old Kameiro Blair-Martin was shot and killed at the nightclub, located in the 30 block of E. Seventh Street. Blair-Martin was an employee at the nightclub.
Officers were called to the bar around 1:30 a.m. Sunday for a report of a person shot. Police found Blair-Martin suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to UC Medical Center, where he later died.
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"Defendants have not reopened Memories Lounge since the homicide. The City seeks relief from this Court to ensure that this closure remains in place until such time that either Defendants are closed by the Court or enjoined to discontinue harmful business practices, abate the public nuisance and comply with the law," according to court documents.
In the lawsuit, the city claims Memories Lounge is a "nuisance bar," despite its owners assuring the city that they are taking steps to "ensure safe operations."
The city claims that the lounge has refused to implement requests made by the city to address safety concerns, such as a mandatory cover charge, reducing the lounge's occupancy load and making modifications to how liquor is sold, such as increases in drink prices or an end to bottle service.
"Defendants claimed that any disorder or violent incidents were not their responsibility," the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit alleges that the night of the Nov. 1 shooting, the lounge's management overruled its own security plan to close early.
"Shortly after, an unlawfully armed employee was shot by a twenty-year-old patron, who was also illegally armed," the lawsuit reads.
"Miraculously, no other patrons were struck, but the crowd of patrons, which was more than double the number permitted by the fire marshal, delayed medical assistance to the victim, who ultimately died," the lawsuit continues.
The city says in the lawsuit that it hasn't already filed a suit to close the business because it was relying on the owners' previous assurances. The city says it did take the steps that were available to address the "repeated and varied contributing legal violations" the lounge amassed since its opening.
Other instances of violations alleged in the lawsuit include failing to comply with smoking bans inside the lounge, female patrons under the age of 21 being served to the point of becoming unconscious and at least two women, one under 21, reporting being sexually assaulted after leaving Memories Lounge in a state of intoxication.
The lawsuit also alleges that on the night of the shooting, 30 to 40 young women were ushered through the kitchen around the security check by the former owner of another recently closed nuisance liquor establishment, the In Between Tavern.
Court documents also detail a second shooting that occurred near the bar on April 4, when several patrons engaged in a fight in line to enter Memories Lounge. After the removal of the patrons, one of them retrieved a firearm and shot another person at the corner of Walnut and Seventh streets.
On the same April 4 night, two women who were patrons at the bar were assaulted in a nearby parking lot after one of the women denied a male patron's advances inside the bar. Security from the bar then harassed the two women as they reported the incident to police in an effort to discredit their claims, per court documents.
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