Tucson police arrested three employees of Hi Fi Kitchen & Cocktails downtown late Thursday after an investigation into overselling of alcohol, drunken fights and other criminal activity, Chief Chris Magnus said.
Magnus said two bartenders, Amber Dietz and Pablo Craney, were arrested on suspicion of overselling alcohol, a misdemeanor; a security guard, Ashton Carrizoza, 23, was arrested on suspicion of selling drugs and drug possession; and a patron, Eddie Leyvas, 23, was arrested on suspicion of selling drugs. The charges against Carrizoza and Leyvas are felonies. The drugs involved were cocaine, Magnus said.
The arrests at the bar, 345 E. Congress St., are part of an investigation by police that began in December. Magnus said other arrests are possible.
Eddie Leyvas
Ashton Carrizoza
He said areas of downtown have seen an increase in fights and other criminal behavior, primarily at night and centered on several of the bars in the area. He said the problem has been made worse by people filming fights and other “drunken” behavior and posting those videos on social media.
“We’ve seen quite a few 18- to 20-something-year-olds throwing punches that frankly do little more than highlight their own immaturity and that’s most of what gets filmed. Some of these encounters result in really serious injuries,” Magnus said Friday at a news conference.
The arrests also follow the recent death a man near another downtown bar.
On Dec. 15, Jason Garcia, 25, and a relative were involved in a brawl around 2:30 a.m. with two other people near Playground Bar and Lounge, 278 E. Congress St.
Officers found Garcia and a relative, who were intoxicated, with facial injuries, police said.
They were treated, and paramedics left the scene.
Garcia was later captured on a Facebook video collapsed on the sidewalk before he was taken to a hospital, where he died.
“This is not just a business problem, it’s a problem involving individuals who’ve decided that they’re going to make downtown their personal fight club, and we’re not going to tolerate that, so there will be arrests made of those individuals,” Magnus said.
He said the Police Department is working with downtown and Fourth Avenue bars and restaurants to improve their security plans and to reinforce the importance of following the laws when it comes to serving alcohol. He said most businesses are cooperating with police in these efforts, but there are some establishments showing “poor management.”
Police said establishments that continue to violate the state’s liquor laws could be subject to fines and to revocations of their liquor licenses and even consequences under the city’s red-tag ordinance, which cites establishments for “loud and unruly” disturbances such as drinking in public, serving alcohol to minors and fighting. The red-tag ordinance states businesses found responsible for an “unruly gathering” can be fined $500 for the first offense and $1,500 for the third and subsequent violations.
Magnus said there may be explorations of a new ordinance with other consequences to specifically address businesses “that fail to take their responsibilities seriously.”
Hi Fi Kitchen & Cocktails, 345 E. Congress St., received 15 citations between May 2014 to April 2016. No further citations are shown since 2016.
In particular, Hi Fi has seen a fair amount of these types of violations since its April 2014 opening.
The Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control’s database shows Hi Fi received 15 citations between May 2014 to April 2016.
The violations ranged from allowing disorderly patrons to remain at the property to repeated acts of violence — two or more incidents in a seven-day period or three within a month — to failure to request identification from an underage buyer, records show.
No further citations are shown since 2016. The restaurant-bar was open for business Friday. Owners of the establishment could not be reached for comment by the Star.
Magnus also said it’s the department’s belief that only a “small” number of businesses are engaged in “unsafe practices,” and an overall decrease in downtown crime of 14% reflects that.
But those businesses contribute to an unsafe environment.
“Our following efforts will be engaging all the business owners down there. We want to not only engage them but also work with some educational components to make sure all their employees are up to speed,” said police Capt. Chris Dennison. He said they will also be educating bar patrons on knowing their limit when drinking alcohol.
