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A Boston nightclub where a woman collapsed on the dance floor and died last month will have its entertainment license reinstated after the Boston Licensing Board found no violations Thursday.
Anastaiya Colon, 27, was at ICON, a nightclub in Boston’s Theater District, in the early hours of Dec. 21 when she suffered a fatal medical episode. Following the incident, her loved ones insisted that the club’s staff did not respond professionally and failed to control crowds.
City regulators suspended ICON’s entertainment license pending an assessment of any potential violations. During a hearing Tuesday, they heard from attorneys representing the club and people who were with Colon the night she died.
As EMTs attempted to respond, crowds inside the club failed to comply with demands to give them space, prompting police to shut down the club, according to a police report of the incident. However, the club and its representatives were adamant that staff handled their response and crowd control efforts properly.
Kevin Montgomery, the club’s head of security, testified that the crowd did not impede police or EMTs and that he waited to evacuate the club because doing so would have created a bottleneck at the entrance. Additionally, a bouncer and a bartender both testified that they interacted with Colon, who ordered one drink before collapsing, and did not see any signs of intoxication.
Angelica Morales, Colon’s sister, submitted a video taken on her phone to the board for them to review. Morales testified Tuesday that the video disproves some of the board’s claims and shows that ICON did not immediately respond to the emergency.
“I ran to the DJ booth, literally bombarded everybody that was in my way to get to the DJ booth, told them to cut the music off,” Morales said. “On my way back, the music was cut off for a minute or two, maybe less, and they cut the music back on.”
Shanice Monteiro, a friend who was with Colon and Morales, said she went outside to flag down police officers. She testified that their response, along with the crowd’s, was inadequate.
“I struggled to get outside,” Monteiro said. “Once I got outside, everybody was still partying, there was no type of urgency. Nobody stopped.”
These factors, along with video evidence provided by ICON, did not substantiate any violations on the club’s part, prompting the licensing board to reinstate their entertainment license at a subsequent hearing Thursday.
“Based on the evidence presented at the hearing from the licensed premise and the spoken testimony and video evidence shared with us from Ms. Colon’s family, I’m not able to find a violation in this case,” Kathleen Joyce, the board’s chairwoman, said at the hearing.
However, Joyce further stated that she “was not able to resolve certain questions” about exactly when or why the club turned off the music or turned on the lights. As a result, the board will require ICON to submit an emergency management plan to prevent future incidents and put organized safety measures in place.
“This plan should outline detailed operational procedures in the event of a medical or any other emergency, including protocols for police and ambulance notification, crowd control and dispersal, and procedures regarding lighting and music during an emergency response,” Joyce said.
Though the club will reopen without facing any violations, Joyce noted that there were “lessons left to be learned” from the incident.
“This tragedy has shaken the public confidence in nightlife in this area, and restoring that confidence is a shared obligation,” she said. “People should feel safe going out at night. They should feel safe going to a club in this area, and they should feel safe getting home.”
Keeana Saxon, one of three commissioners on the licensing board, further emphasized the distinction Joyce made between entertainment-related matters and those that pertained to licensing. Essentially, the deciding factor in the board’s decision was the separation of the club’s response from any accountability they may have had by serving Colon liquor.
“I hope that the family does understand that there are separate procedures for both the entertainment and the licensing, just to make sure that on the licensing side, that we understand that she was only served one drink and that it was absolutely unforeseeable for that one drink to then lead to some kind of emergency such as this one,” Saxon said.
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Ariana Grande is coming to Boston next week and one of her biggest fans in Massachusetts will be there after resolving a ticket issue with StubHub.
Kelsie Duest of Hopedale had two front row balcony seats to Grande’s show on July 23 at TD Garden. Her brother bought them for her on StubHub last year. Her mother said it cost nearly $1,400 for the pair.
But about a month later, Sharon Duest checked her Apple Wallet and noticed the tickets were invalid. She said StubHub offered them a choice, take a refund or different tickets.
Duest ended up accepting the tickets that were offered, only to learn they were obstructed view seats behind the stage and Kelsie wouldn’t be able to see Grande during parts of the concert.
Concerned that her daughter, who has Down syndrome, would miss out on the experience of seeing Grande on stage, Duest tried calling and emailing Stubhub hoping to get better seats.
“We didn’t want anything for free. We just wanted just the tickets that we had,” she told WBZ-TV.
With the concert coming up soon, the Duests reached out to the I-Team’s Call for Action for help, who contacted StubHub.
“We’re so sorry about the issues Sharon experienced with their ticket order, especially given how meaningful this concert is to Kelsie,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
“We understand how disappointing and stressful that situation was. Our Customer Care team worked with them to resolve the issue and ultimately secured upgraded replacement tickets in a section in front of where the original seats were located, allowing them to attend the show with an improved view.”
Kelsie and her mom now have club seats closer to the stage than the tickets they originally purchased.
“I know we couldn’t have done this without you guys. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” Sharon Duest said.
A good rule of thumb with electronic tickets is to always check on them to confirm that they remain valid up until the event. You should also keep good records in case you need a refund or a replacement.
ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WJAR) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Boston said Friday that it arrested a Barbados national during targeted operations in Attleboro.
ICE Boston said Irijah Jabarri Stowe Marshall is “a criminal illegal alien.”
According to officials, his criminal history includes a pending charge for failing to register as a sex offender in Massachusetts.
He was also previously convicted of attempted rape and aggravated sexual contact, ICE Boston said.
A 20-year-old Boston man is facing a series of charges after prosecutors say he shot at Boston Police officers during an attempted stop in Dorchester before leading them on a foot chase through neighborhood backyards.
Rasiel Carbuccia was arraigned in Dorchester District Court Thursday on a list of charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying without a license and possession of a large capacity firearm, stemming from the Wednesday night incident near Devon and Laredo streets.
According to prosecutors, Boston Police officers attempted to stop Carbuccia when he pulled out a gun and began shooting, striking a Boston police cruiser before fleeing the scene.
Investigators said Carbuccia ran through backyards and hopped fences before he was taken into custody. Officers did not fire their weapons during the encounter.
Prosecutors said investigators later recovered the firearm along the path where Carbuccia had been running.
“It was determined that the firearm was a ghost gun, and it did not possess a serial number,” Suffolk County prosecutor Jacqueline Martinelli said in court.
Larry Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, said the shooting is part of what he believes is a troubling trend of violence this summer and renewed his call for more officers on Boston streets.
“Everybody should be outraged. Bullets flying in the city’s streets at uniformed police officers. How can we possibly convince the general public that they’re safe to walk around their own neighborhoods?” Calderone said.
“We have teenagers pulling firearms and stealing mopeds from others in broad daylight. We have shots being fired at police officers in uniform, officers being attacked, people being shot daily that we can’t solve the crimes,” he added.
No one was injured in the shooting, but Calderone said the outcome could have been much worse.
“Thank goodness, neither officer or a pedestrian, an innocent child or somebody in the middle of the evening did not get killed last night. Just as thankful, at least they caught him. They recovered the weapon,” he said.
After the arraignment, Carbuccia’s attorney declined to discuss the case in detail but indicated mental health issues could become part of the proceedings.
“Ultimately as you guys know this is a process that has to play out and he’s presumed innocent and there’s going to be a number of things that are going to come out in respect to mental health and potentially the investigation, I don’t really have much more to say beyond that,” attorney Bob White told reporters.
According to prosecutors, Carbuccia had two open assault cases and an active warrant at the time of his arrest.
He’s being held in jail without bail and is scheduled to return to court later this month for a dangerousness hearing.
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