Little Rock club where 28 were injured wasn't on city's radar, despite 3 dozen complaints

Little Rock Police Department crime scene personnel collect evidence July 1, 2017, after a shooting at the Power Ultra Lounge at 220 W. Sixth St.
Little Rock Police Department crime scene personnel collect evidence July 1, 2017, after a shooting at the Power Ultra Lounge at 220 W. Sixth St.

Local and state authorities responded to at least 37 civil and criminal complaints at Power Ultra Lounge over four years before 28 people were injured after a barrage of gunfire at the downtown Little Rock nightclub, public records show.

Yet, city officials never exercised the authority they've since acknowledged they have to sanction or close the business that was on property zoned for a restaurant but operating and promoting itself as a concert venue or events center.

Club promotional material, as well as police reports and state Alcoholic Beverage Control records, show that it was hardly a secret that Power Ultra functioned as a nightclub, but City Manager Bruce Moore said officials who could have taken action against the club never made the connection.

"I've seen the fact that I should have known," Moore said. "We would have shut them down immediately, but we weren't aware of it."

The shooting during a performance by the Memphis rapper Ricky Hampton has also prompted the state's alcohol control agency to begin reviewing the state laws it uses to determine whether restaurants, bars and clubs qualify for a "Restaurant Mixed Drink" permit or a private club permit.

Restaurant Mixed Drink permits, such as the one Power Ultra's operator Herman Lewis held, allow for the presence of minors -- the youngest person wounded in the July 1 shooting was 16 years old -- but have certain requirements about the type of food that is served and how late the kitchen stays open, said Mary Robin Casteel, the Alcoholic Beverage Control's administration director.

"There's no question that we are going to look at the way the law is written regarding what it takes to be a restaurant," Casteel said, adding that the review is "in some part a reaction to what happened" at Power Ultra.

Little Rock's business-licensing office classifies alcohol-serving businesses on the basis of what permits they hold from Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the city's treasury division manager, meaning the city's paperwork classified Power Ultra -- under the name "Lulav Power Bar & Lounge" -- as a restaurant.

A restaurant was an allowed use at the Sixth Street location, per how the property was zoned, but recurring concerts there should have been out of bounds under local laws, city officials said.

Determining how the former nightclub escaped city action despite more than three dozen complaints is important as officials undertake a broader review of late-night Little Rock entertainment to see whether other businesses are running afoul of permitting or zoning rules.

"The Power Lounge is not the only location that is actually licensed to do one thing but they're actually, operationally, doing something different," Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner said. "We want to see where these folks are doing these things, close these gaps legally and then kind of give us the opportunity to do more enforcement as we do that."

Little Rock could have required Lewis to qualify Power Ultra as an event center -- which allows the city to negotiate certain restrictions, such as closing times -- and if he declined, the city could have taken the rare step of asking a judge to block concerts and special events there, City Attorney Tom Carpenter said.

Ron Davis Jr., Lewis' attorney, in a brief phone interview said Lewis held a state Alcoholic Beverage Control permit to run a restaurant with a bar at the premises and that he did not believe he was "doing anything wrong."

Lewis also held a city alcohol permit and business license, records show, but those permits have no bearing on a property's zoning or land-use restrictions. The city's zoning ordinance defines an event center as a place where "entertainment functions" or other specific uses are the "primary purpose."

"You called it a club. They had a restaurant license," Davis said. "He didn't think he was doing anything wrong, and the authorities didn't think he was doing anything wrong at that point."

The building's owners evicted Lewis after the July 1 shooting and plan to no longer allow the site to be used for events, Carpenter said.

Restaurant permit challenged

Little Rock annually granted a mixed-drink permit and a business license to Lewis, who filed for the documents under the name "Lulav Power Bar & Lounge," after he took over the restaurant in 2014, according to copies of the permits and licenses.

The city in its alcohol permits and business licenses bases its classifications on Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control, said Scott Massanelli, who leads the city's treasury division.

No one disputes that Lulav began as a restaurant and warranted the Restaurant Mixed Drink permit, Casteel and others said.

"When Herman Lewis took it over ... it was still classified as Lulav," said Chris Ringgold, a detective on the Little Rock Police Department's vice squad. "It wasn't probably until recently that he stopped operating outside of the restaurant [scope]."

In March 2015, just months after the club had already faced three state violations -- including one for offering bottle service for liquor -- Alcoholic Beverage Control's Enforcement Division alleged that the club was no longer qualified to hold a Restaurant Mixed Drink permit because meals weren't prepared on-site and weren't served during designated hours, records show.

After a hearing, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board found that the Enforcement Division did not have sufficient evidence to yank the permit.

Six months later, the agency granted a conditional Restaurant Mixed Drink permit for "Lulav, A Modern Eatery" after it amended its application from a "minimum" to a "maximum" permit. Under the maximum permit -- for which the fee is doubled to $1,500 -- the nightclub had a seating capacity of 375 in an 8,950-square-foot space.

In the application, Lewis described the venue as hosting "restaurant food service; live music; corporate party, private partys; DJ, TV's; wedding receptions; rehearsal dinners" along with a full kitchen for lunch and dinner hours.

Lewis did not hide the nature of the business. In May 2015, for example, Power Ultra completed a renovation of its lounge space, according to a notice that remains posted on the website powerlr.com.

"Power prides itself in the dashing character it has taken on, bringing a sense of distinction making it one of the marquee landmark nightlife locations in central Arkansas," it says.

Boyce Hamlet, the director of the beverage control's enforcement division, said the agency knew the club was "kind of a problem" and that it was hosting events "that probably weren't the best idea," but that there was nothing for which the agency could have cited it.

Additionally, Power Ultra operated for nearly six months this year without an active business license, using social media to promote several concerts in that span. City licenses span the calendar year, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. Lewis' 2017 license was issued June 28.

Massanelli said that's not abnormal. Roughly 3,000 Little Rock businesses are months late in renewing their licenses each year.

The treasury division does not have the authority to shut down businesses that are delinquent in paying their annual fees; instead, after 90 days, the division begins issuing citations, he said. If the citation and licensing fees remain unpaid, the matter goes before a judge.

Lewis renewed his application this year after receiving the citation, Massanelli said. He paid a $40 late fee, the license shows.

Citations escape city's notice

Moore, Little Rock's city manager, said after the shooting that the city was unaware that Power Ultra operated beyond the scope of the property's land use, in part, because of a breakdown in communication.

Moore has appointed the Police Department's liaison with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control to a "criminal abatement" committee that Moore meets with every other week. Moore said if he had been aware of the numerous state citations, he would have directed the city staff to review Power Ultra's status.

"I think the one addition that I'm adding to our [criminal abatement] team is going to be a significant help to make sure that doesn't happen again," Moore said of such clubs escaping notice.

The state issued 13 orders suspending the nightclub's ability to sell alcohol, each time because of delinquent taxes.

Those orders give owners a certain amount of time to pay off the taxes, and if the time lapses, beverage control would yank the alcohol permit. Records show that beverage control did that six times because of delinquent city, county and state taxes.

The nightclub has otherwise had violations in recent years that would not normally trigger extra attention, Casteel has said. Most of the violations had been administrative in nature, such as operating under an unauthorized trade name or not changing the name of the permit-holder, she has said.

Little Rock's Planning Department observes how properties throughout the city are used but does not have a regular process to review whether businesses are functioning in line with zoning rules, said Dana Carney, the city's zoning manager.

"We depend very much on assistance that we can get from anyone that can make us aware of circumstances in any issue, whether this one or any issues we work with," Carney said.

Carney said he was not aware of any complaints or tips the city received suggesting that Power Ultra was operating beyond its allowed use.

Police frequently called

Little Rock Police Department patrol officers were called to Power Ultra at least 24 times dating back to 2013 for incidents that ranged from civil disputes to theft to violence, according to department records.

One occasion was shortly after midnight on the Fourth of July 2016, when officers accompanied a Little Rock fire marshal who broke up a party at Power Ultra because too many people were there.

Eight Little Rock police officers were outside to help clear about 300 people from the parking lot after the club exceeded its maximum capacity. Then, gunshots were fired.

A white car sped away. No one was hurt or arrested, according to the police report. The party dissipated, and the lounge faded again from the city's attention.

Before the shooting July 1, the most violent of the incidents at the club occurred on Sept. 7, 2015, when a 32-year-old man who'd been hanging around outside the club "all night" was shot in the chest, according to a police report. The man survived.

Earlier this year, about four months ago, the club began paying off-duty police officers to provide security in the parking lot during events, said Carpenter, the city's attorney. That arrangement stemmed from a dispute between Lewis and the property's owners, Carpenter said.

It's unclear, however, how frequently off-duty officers provided that service. Police are required to get supervisors' approval for such work, but a Freedom of Information Act request for those approval slips did not turn up any documents.

The request included documents related to the business and to two officers who were described in one 2016 police report as providing off-duty security.

Lt. Steven McClanahan, the Police Department's spokesman who has provided off-duty security at other locations, said officers do not investigate code or land-use matters while working such security officers or responding to individual complaints.

"That's not a concern for us," McClanahan said. "We assume that if a business is operating in Little Rock, at least from a patrolman's perspective, it has a license."

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Photos by Brandon Riddle

Metro on 07/30/2017

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