Bar Patron Says UES Bouncer Assaulted Him, Wife: VIDEO

Travis and his wife went to Ethyl’s Alcohol and Food on Friday with a bunch of friends. This was the third year they’ve gone to the bar to celebrate Halloween. Ethyl’s is located at 1629 Second Avenue between 84th and 85th streets.

Travis tells us he had a table towards the back with his group, and that when he asked the waiter for the bill, he requested it be itemized – so that he’d only be paying for him and his wife.

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There was apparently a shift change, so a new waitress returned with the bill shortly thereafter. However, Travis says it wasn’t itemized, and that when he asked them to correct it, she told him it wasn’t her problem and grabbed the attention of the bouncer.

That’s when a video Travis’ wife recorded shows the bouncer approaching him and shoving him out of the space. Once outside, the man could be seen yelling at him, and at one point, he knocked the phone out of the hands of the person taking the video.

In an email Travis sent to the bar’s management, he says the bouncer and another man “snatched the receipt from my hand. Your bouncer then began to assault me, grabbed me by the collar, and forcefully dragged me out—my left hand is now in pain from an injury he caused. Outside of the bar he continued to raise his voice and told me ‘I will kill you out here.'”

“My wife recorded the interaction,” the email continued. “While she was recording, your bouncer looked at her, and assaulted her. He slapped her in the face while he was recording her. The bouncer continued to escalate the situation and asked me to hit him.”

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Here’s the video Travis provided us with.

Here’s a statement we received from ‘Ethyl’:

“That patron had friends in earlier in the evening who were asked to leave … security allowed him back in which turned out to be a mistake… he then made our female server uncomfortable when he was paying his bill and she wanted him removed, security asked him to leave and he refused… so he was removed … all within our rights and the law! No further comment!!!”

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When pressed for more clarity, we received this follow-up statement: “I only see a guy who refused to leave when being removed… and again this was on top of the issue earlier in the evening with his other friends! Ethyl’s has certain rules that are posted throughout the space and on our website… it’s a simple place to be in! That’s my last comment!”

In response to the statement above, Travis said “No customer at any establishment should be threatened with violence when they have a question about their bill. Unfortunately, Ethyl’s appears to hire staff who assault their patrons, and hit women. Management and their employees should be ashamed of themselves.”

Travis also tells us his friend was thrown out “because he was dressed as a Jedi, had a retractable lightsaber, and was pulling it out to pose for photos.”