After Black Sheep Melee, Bar Fires Security Guards, Establishment Shut Down for 7 Days

After Black Sheep Melee, Bar Fires Security Guards, Establishment Shut Down for 7 Days

Last Sunday, GoLocal first reported that multiple people were arrested following a melee outside downtown Providence bar Black Sheep in which a beer bottle was thrown at police.

According to police, bar security was reportedly “uncooperative" during the incident. 

The bar “voluntarily closed” following the incident; on Thursday, the Providence Board of Licenses ordered the bar closed for seven days in total.

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Carveout for Basketball Game - and Patrons

The Board, however, did allow for Black Sheep to operate on Saturday, March 1 - which is when Providence College men’s basketball plays UConn at home downtown. 

Black Sheep was ordered by the Board of Licenses to remain closed on Thursday and Friday; it can however open back up on Saturday for the game and nighttime crowd. 

The bar was ordered to serve its "last" closure day instead on Saturday, March 8, which in total gives them a seven-day closure for the incident. 

Additionally the two "uncooperative, unlicensed security officers" will be fired immediately, according to police.

Black Sheep's attorney Nick Hemond addressed the bar security - and closure - issues. 

"To me, I really don't care if they were licensed or not licensed. This ownership group's not going to tolerate behavior that's not appropriate towards police. And whether you think the police are right or wrong for what they're doing, you're going to treat them with respect. And for that reason, they were fired," said Hemond. "There was no adjudication as to whether they had a floor host license or not. All of our bouncers have a floor host license unless something slips through the cracks."

"Regarding the timing of the closure to allow for the bar to be open for the game, for our end, it was a practical resolution," said Hemond. "Because of the timing of things, even if we disagreed that this shouldn't have been a violation or shouldn't have been a seven-day closure, the reality is is we wouldn't have had time to appeal it before the penalty was served."

"So rather than fight the city, we want to have a good relationship with them. We agreed to serve a penalty that we think is in excess of what should have been served but the city was fair and heard our concerns and we worked out different [closing] schedules, which is very common," said Hemond.