HOUSTON – A local lawyer is calling for more transparency from businesses in Houston when violence takes place on their property.
Attorney Alberto Ruiz said he’d been waiting for the police to obtain security video from a nightclub for weeks after his client was involved in an altercation with a security officer, while owners of the nightclub said the security employee was attacked.
“Bouncers cannot be bullies,” Ruiz said during a news conference.
He told reporters that two of his clients suffered severe injuries at two different nightclubs in Houston due to security guards’ actions. Now, he’s advocating for establishments to be more transparent when incidents occur on the property.
“What we’re asking is that every time a police officer is called to the scene of a nightclub for an assault with a bouncer or anybody else that the video footage is collected immediately,” Ruiz said.
In the case of his client Eddie Fuentes, Ruiz said the business involved never responded to his request for information. In June, Fuentes and his friends were kicked out of Chicas Cabaret, an adult establishment in north Houston. Fuentes ended up in the hospital for three days after the incident.
“While they were inside, someone took a photo and they are not allowed to take photos,” Ruiz said.
Fuentes said he wasn’t the one who took the photos, and after requesting to be let back in several times, he was eventually pushed to the ground by security.
Chicas Cabaret released a video showing Fuentes falling, getting back up with something in his hands, and striking someone in the direction of the security guard. The establishment sent us this statement:
“What you are seeing here is the person in question (and his two friends) long after they had already been initially (and peacefully) removed from the club for trying to fight other customers.... and after they had repeatedly tried to forcefully reenter the club.
“They refused to leave the premises after being made to leave the lobby of the club six times.
“They eventually stood outside the door and kept asking the guard to come speak to them (purportedly to plead their case to reenter). When he finally acquiesced and opened the door to speak to them, the three of them attacked him. Including hitting him with a bottle. From there, the guards (all uniformed, licensed and armed) attempted to detain the person that assaulted the guard in order to call the police.
“As you can see, they continued to fight the guards - including several of them kicking one while he was on the ground. He then ran away. The guards gave chase to apprehend him and call police. They found him behind the building lying on the ground with blood on the car nearest to him. He evidently tripped or fell in his attempt to run away. Otherwise they likely never would have caught him. You can see in the video the headstart that he had. They told him they would be calling the police and 911 for an ambulance. He refused medical care and begged to be let go.
“One of the guards noticed that his friends had fled to the gas station next door. They told them to come get their friend and none of them were ever to return.
“In hindsight, the police should have been called. And our standard operating procedures will reflect that moving forward.”
We showed the video to Ruiz. It was his first time viewing the footage.
“There are things that the video does not show. There are shots and angles that we can’t see,” Ruiz said.
He said the situation was not handled properly.
“Police should have been called immediately as that unfolded. They should not have chased him into the parking lot, and what we don’t see is when they chase him around the corner. What then happens?” Ruiz said.
His clients have not filed a lawsuit yet, and he is still gathering information.