Two longstanding Fourth Avenue bars have been fined at total of nearly $10,000 by the state liquor board for violating liquor laws, documents show.
Maloneyβs Tavern, 213 N. Fourth Ave., was cited for five violations and fined $8,000 by the Arizona Department of Liquor in June, according to documents obtained through a public-records request.
In addition to the fine, an employee is facing felony assault charges in connection with the January incident involving a patron who was seriously injured.
OβMalleys Bar and Grill, 247 N. Fourth Ave., was also cited for three violations, and paid $1,625 in fines, records show.
The department of liquorβs investigation began after the Star reported in December that police records showed several violent incidents occurred at OβMalleys and Maloneyβs between February and August 2015, including a homicide. However, a check of the departmentβs database showed no violations for either bar in 2015.
State law requires that a barβs owner or manager report any violent incident that occurs on the premises to law enforcement or the liquor department within seven days.
When contacted by the Star in December, department spokeswoman Lee Hill said there were no open investigations or violations for either of the bars in 2015. The Star, however, had police reports documenting the incidents at the bars.
Hill confirmed they had not received the reports, prompting the stateβs investigation.
OβMalleys
In January, the Star reported the departmentβs Liquor License and Control division decided OβMalleys violated state laws by not alerting authorities to two aggravated assaults that occurred on the premises.
The incidents, which took place in February and May 2015, involved women who were struck on the head with beer bottles while inside the bar, records show.
In the February assault, a security guard handed the victim a bandage and told her she needed to go to the hospital, since she was bleeding profusely.
In May, police interviewed a woman who said sheβd been hit on the head with the bottle while dancing.
After OβMalleys security separated the two women, the victim was asked to leave, along with her assailant, according to a Tucson police report, obtained through a public records request.
In both cases, the victims contacted police on their own, once theyβd arrived at the hospital. Tucson police verified that no calls to 911 had been made from the bar, following either assault, department of liquor documents show.
The bar paid $875 in fines for the two failures to report, and an additional $750 for an employee who was βintoxicated or disorderlyβ while on duty, according to department of liquor documents.
In January, an investigator with the department was conducting youth alcohol enforcement in front of the bar, when a customer was escorted out of OβMalleys, department documents show.
The man, who was behaving aggressively, was βtaken to the ground by securityβ and restrained, at which point an employee came out of the bar and made βantagonizing gesturesβ at him.
The investigator reported that the employee βreached towards his belt line and made the gun gesture with his hand.β
When questioned about his behavior, the employee said the customer had made him mad. The incident was referred to the compliance unit, since the employeeβs behavior could have led to a more serious situation.
OβMalleys is also facing a lawsuit by the families of four people killed in a DUI crash last July. The suit alleges negligence by the barβs staff in over-serving the driver, Jesus Olea.
Owner Brian Cummings could not be reached for comment.
Maloneyβs
A January altercation led to an $8,000 fine for Maloneyβs, after it was cited for five violations.
On Jan. 8, a department of liquor investigator was working downtown, when he encountered a commotion outside of Maloneyβs, according to department of liquor documents.
βA crowd of patrons hovered and created a circle around an individual who was laying face first on the street,β the investigator wrote in his report.
The man laying on the ground was not moving, and appeared to be unconscious, he wrote.
βThe state of unconsciousness lasted for at least 20 minutes straight until emergency services were rendered,β the report said.
When questioning witnesses, the investigator learned that an employee of Maloneyβs, Clinton Gray, had slammed the victim onto the ground after he had resisted leaving the bar.
The victim suffered a broken collarbone, brain bleed and a punctured left ear drum, and multiple witnesses confirmed that Gray had used excessive force.
βThe eyewitness account shows the culpability of Clinton Gray, and the fact he knowingly left the scene without rendering aide,β according to the investigatorβs report.
Test results indicated the victimβs blood alcohol content was well above the legal limit.
The department of liquor found that Maloneyβs committed the following violations: Failure to protect the safety of patrons, selling liquor to an intoxicated or disorderly person, intoxicated on premises for 30 minutes, employee disorderly on duty and a serious act of violence occurring on the premises.
The Pima County Attorneyβs Office has charged Gray with aggravated assault and aggravated assault with serious injuries, both felonies. His case is pending in Pima County Superior Court.
Maloneyβs ownership changed hands in December, with the new owners purchasing the rights to the Maloneyβs name and logo, said Jennifer Eversten, a spokeswoman for Prime Steak Concepts, the corporation that owns other Maloneyβs locations.
βThere is no other association between (the Tucson) location and our company,β she wrote in an email.
New owners Joseph and Rebecca Harris could not be reached for comment through their attorney, John J. Brady.
Both Maloneyβs and OβMalleys have had a total of 13 violations with the department of liquor, many of which are related to violence.
