A member of the D.C. City Council and former D.C. mayor sustained injuries while attempting to enter the D.C. Eagle.
Vincent Gray served as the mayor of Washington, D.C. from 2011-2015. Before that, he was the chair of the council.
On Saturday night he was attending the city’s Art All Night event; the Eagle was a participating venue.
As he entered the bar around 9:30 pm, 75-year-old Gray presented his D.C. Council ID card to the bouncer. He was told the card would not be accepted as it doesn’t display a birth date.
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“Don’t I look old enough?” Gray asked, according to NBC Washington.
Gray says when he asked to speak with a manager, the bouncer stepped around the counter and forcibly shoved him out the door, where he fell to the ground. He called the police and reported the assault.
“I wound up hitting the pavement. I just went flat out on my back on the pavement. And he literally came out and stood over me and said, ‘You’re faking,'” Gray told News4.
DC Councilmember @VinceGrayWard7 shows wounds on his hands after he says he was assaulted by an employee at @DC_Eagle Gray says he wants employee charged by prosecutors and fired by the club. pic.twitter.com/YvUxvUmERL
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) October 1, 2018
He demonstrated the shove on a reporter:
This is how hard former @mayorvincegray, 75, says a bouncer pushed him at a D.C. club, knocking him to the ground. (Thanks to @SegravesNBC4 for helping demonstrate) https://t.co/BXFbS4Imwk pic.twitter.com/lYrCkHqkWT
— NBC4 Washington (@nbcwashington) October 1, 2018
Sheila Bunn, Gray’s chief of staff, added some context to the Washington Post:
“He wasn’t going to party or drink or anything like that. This is a government-sponsored event, it was open to the public, he showed his council ID and he wasn’t belligerent about it.”
She added that the venue promised to fire the bouncer, but in a statement, it seemed to be making excuses for the behavior:
“The member of our security staff at the door that evening has only lived in the area for 4 months and [is] not familiar with Councilmember Gray’s service to the District. We will retrain all of our staff to ensure that a focus on customer service and de-escalation is adhered to. At this time, we are conducting an internal review and are cooperating with the relevant District agencies and offices.”
Meanwhile, Gray is using the opportunity to speak up about nightlife safety:
”I am bruised and sore. However, I appreciate the concern and support I've received from many of you. It is vital that bouncers and security staff know to never lay hands on a patron except to prevent/break-up a physical altercation. Let's treat one another with respect.” https://t.co/pq3jmBqhwe
— Vince Gray (@VinceGrayWard7) October 1, 2018
Larry
I guess the former mayor doesn’t get that you have to show ID to get into a place that services alcohol. The judgement of a bouncer or the appearance of the visitor isn’t a factor. It’s the ID
JamJewel
It’s ageism, plain and simple. I’m 66 and the only time I’m IDed is when they don’t want me to come in and then it’s every excuse in the book – I could literally write a book of the variations on that theme – regardless of my two picture IDs with my age. I then get the “belligerent black” excuse piled on when I devolve into my Jamaican accent out of frustration.
QueerTruth
JamJewel,
I don’t think it’s ageism. It’s usually just policy.
Who cares. Bring your wallet and ID like the young guys and anyone who drives.
S.anderson
JamJewel, understand that the law requires the venue to card everyone, and failure to card one person could get them shut down. Failure to show ID forces the venue to refuse you entry, period.
If you want to get in, have your ID ready and hand it right over. Say something nice to get them to smile! Giving the bouncer any trouble in their job empowers them to bar you at their discretion.
Do you really want to visit a bar where anyone who looks like trouble are still permitted to shove past the bouncer and wreak havok inside? If you think the venue or it’s staff are racist, do you really want to give them your money?
startenout
It’s funny…. he LITERALLY said regardless of him showing two IDs and being 66, yet you STILL try to ‘splain to him how he’s wrong. You’ve GOT to be kidding
Kangol
I’m sorry, but the Mr. Gray wasn’t there to hang out at the Eagle, he was there for a government-sponsored event. He’s visibly in his 70s, he’s the former mayor of DC (!) and a current City Councilman, and he was unnecessarily roughed up. He should sue. DC’s got some great lawyers, so one needs to get on this.
JamJewel
First the Monster stories and now this! Guess there is just no reprieve from intra-gay hostilities.
DHT
As a member of the City Council at a City Council sponsored event he should have been allowed in with the ID he presented. Basically he was working the event. I doubt The Eagle carded the artists whose artwork was on display or anyone else that was affiliated with the event. And for the bouncer to push him, a 75 year old man, is really despicable. This was probably more to do with ageism than anything and I am glad the bouncer has been let go.
lcandela123
It is irrelevant that he didn’t show an ID with his birthdate. The issue is that he was roughly ejected and injured, without cause.
S.anderson
Well sure, if “without cause” means accepting that the law, the bouncer’s discretion, and the Councilmember’s disrespect are truly “irrelevant”. I don’t think they are.
S.anderson
Councilmember Gray: “It is vital that bouncers and security staff know to never lay hands on [me]”
Eagle Mgmt: “The member of our security staff at the door that evening has only lived in the area for 4 months and [is] not familiar with Councilmember Gray’s [VIP status]”
That sums the whole scene up right there.
Gray snubbed the law, challenged the bouncer’s authority, escalated the situation and staged his wounds. He got in front of the cameras and made dishonest, defamatory statements about The Eagle. He deserved to be barred from entry. But, the venue has to throw the bouncer under the bus to protect itself.
As a former bouncer, I say let anyone in if it won’t get the venue into trouble. Watch out for sting operations, but otherwise, don’t sweat it. While the public needs to respect that the door is yours and your word is final, don’t hesitate to call the Mgr to either back you up or relieve you of the decision. If your boss is a decent human, you’ll get a bonus for every time you get punched, and let you give 2-week’s notice and quit instead of being fired.
startenout
Whatever. You don’t put your hands on a patron entering the establishment who has not staged a physical altercation. That is how you get yourself jailed and not you and the bar sued. Spoken as a former doorman. Be smarter
Kangol
“Staged his wounds”…are you kidding me? The man is 75, not 25! You don’t shove a senior like that unless you want to cause injury. The bouncer should have been fired for his brutal act, on top of showing total disrespect to a former mayor of DC. It doesn’t matter whether he’d lived in DC 4 months or 4 years, he should have been canned on the spot. I hope Gray sues him and the bar into the ground.
S.anderson
@startenout Laws may vary in your area, but if the law says a venue has to card everybody, and can’t admit someone who doesn’t provide proper ID, that means they’re empowered to do *something* to bar access to non-compliants. If someone tries to rush the door, the bouncer blocks him. That’s called “bouncing” btw. It’s not controversial, even if it involves physical contact. If YOU want to believe the Councilperson that he was slammed around, then that’s your prerogative. As for me, it’s my observation that every pissed-off frat boy or girl will claim brutality when they get booted. The Councilmember wasn’t permitted to break the law in light of his social status as he obviously expected. It’s no surprise that he turned out to be vindictive, too. An experienced politician placing a spin on things, imagine that!
@kangol: No, I’m not kidding. Also, the poor dear old fellow felt like having a press conference with cameras to light the Eagle’s ass on fire any way he could. All the while “contemplating” suing the Eagle. That’s theater.
Bouncers are empowered to do more than politely plead with patrons to comply with the law. Also, you must be crazy if you don’t think an old man with a chip on his shoulder maybe probably needled the bouncer and pissed him off. I’ve never met a young man capable of being as calculating and evil as an old professional player. This chap didn’t become Mayor and Councilperson by being a sweet, affable co-operator.
S.anderson
I mean, really. This bouncer had probably admitted thousands of Eagle patrons by this point in his new job, and this particular man was the one that cracked him? There was something very special about this encounter. There’s a very slim chance that the bouncer was insane, or Gray looked just like the man who molested him as a boy, but odds are 99.9999999% that Gray was a towering ass who escalated the conflict and rushed the door.
jkb
It seems like you bounced your head off a hard object. Asking to speak to the manager under ANY circumstance does not warrant being pushed. At worst, the bouncer could have said he could speak to the manager then ignore him and let him just stand there. You’re being ridiculous with your defense of this nonsense.
S.anderson
@jkb, the real point is that Gray’s account needs to be taken with a grain of salt. He’s hardly motivated by concern for other frail citizens who might get roughed up at this notorious gay bar. He’s proceeded in a way which looks precisely like a co-ordinated vendetta against a social institution which embarrassed him and exposed him as an entitled figure who routinely expects the law waived for him. If the bouncer did wrong, there would be no question of the mgmt firing him. But Gray fears that his will won’t be carried out unless he holds a press conference and lights a fire under the Eagle’s ass with the best theatrics an old politician can muster.
For lack of access to video and audio of the incident, my experience tells me Gray was riding on his social status and antagonizing the bouncer. He probably tried to rush the door – he was not “shoved”, he charged into a wall of muscle and buckles, bouncing off and landing on his skinny old ass. The bouncer said “you’re faking it” meaning he clearly observed a con going on. If you’re going to hang on every word Gray has said, you need to process the bouncer’s dialogue too.
DCguy
A gay club could be shut down for not checking I.D. He showed an I.D. that wasn’t valid.
Whether the bouncers other behavior was criminal is a different issue, but the fact is, that Grey could have just as easily been allowed into the club and then turned around and used his being let in without valid I.D. as a reason to shut the place down.
So he shouldn’t have been let in. Police don’t care if somebody looks 70 years old, if they didn’t have valid I.D. they will still fine the place.
Now, if the bouncer was rough and he was injured, go after him for that.