Three recent incidents in Conway bars, including a former UCA Alumni Association board president accused of groping a man, have raised concerns regarding the city’s entertainment venues and whether they practice proper safety procedures during operating hours.
Mark Knight, a former deputy mayor of Conway, a former head of Conway’s IT department and a former UCA employee faced a second-degree sexual assault charge linked to an incident at JJ’s Grill in Conway in early August.
Knight was apprehended on a class B felony charge of second-degree sexual assault Oct. 11. Knight was released from the Faulkner County Detention Center after posting a $25,000 professional bond.
Officer Thomas Guinnip of the Conway Police Department responded to a fight at King’s Live Music on Friday, Oct. 6. When Guinnip arrived, the fight had already broken up, but he received information from witnesses.
Cierra Paul, an underage girl who’s age was not stated in the police report, was allowed to enter the bar, but she was not allowed to be served any alcoholic drinks. Paul’s boyfriend handed her his drink while he went to the bathroom. Kings security saw this and attempted to remove Paul and her group from the bar.
During the removal, a fight broke out between one of the security guards, Nathan Page, and a member of Paul’s group, Joseph Fulton. The police report stated it was unknown what started the altercation, as the two shared conflicting stories.
A separate police report was filed the following day, on Oct. 7, regarding an altercation at Bears Den Pizza. Officer Anthony Taylor arrived at the bar and was informed the individual who instigated the fight fled the scene.
Taylor located the suspect, later identified as Jackson Freeman, and arrested him on charges of fleeing on foot and public intoxication.
Eyewitness accounts said Freeman punched a female in the parking lot of Bears Den Pizza, and when another female, Zion Strong, attempted to break up the fight, Freeman pushed her away. Freeman then ran away from the establishment.
Garrett Eason, a former bartender at JJ’s Grill, weighed in on his experience serving the nightlife crowd.
Eason said, “Every day was different, but job duties ranged from restocking kegs in the walk-in freezer, making drinks for customers sitting at the bar as well as those sitting at the tables, maintaining a clean workspace, talking to people at the bar and security if it ever came to it, which it rarely did.”
In bar altercations, alcohol is often a contributing factor, but Eason explained that JJ’s had a system for limiting bar patrons from drinking too much, too quickly.
“On our ordering and point of sale systems, we could tell what time we put a drink in and how many drinks were on someone’s tab. So it’s the bartender’s job to keep an eye on how many drinks they’ve ordered in a specific time frame. I wouldn’t say there is a specific number of drinks someone is allowed to be served but as long as you keep up with how many drinks they’ve had and how they’re acting it’s usually pretty easy to tell.”
Eason continued to share information he gained through his experience to keep the crowd from overindulging.
“The general rule is no more than three beers per hour or no more than two mixed drinks per hour. That can vary depending on how big someone is and how they’re acting but in general that’s the rule we stuck to.”
“Sometimes there would be problems between customers but it was very rare. A lot of people that came into the bar were friends. But if there was a problem we just tried to de-escalate the situation and figure out a levelheaded solution.”