Officials: Problems plague nightclub

Patrick's Beach Club, a north Tampa dance club, has been the scene of several arrests for serious crimes, authorities say. But the club says it's being unfairly singled out.

By MELANIE AVE

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 7, 2000

UNIVERSITY NORTH -- Several nights a week, cars jam the parking lot and people pack the dance floor of Patrick's Beach Club.

The bar at 2253 Bearss Ave. in the Meredia Square Shopping Center is a popular place for young people wanting to dance to the beat of hip-hop, rap and high-energy dance music.

"Everybody I know goes to it," said Tamekia Stokes, an 18-year-old who lives in the nearby Cedar Trace Apartments. "Everybody."

But the club west of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard has become a thorn in the side of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which has labeled the growing problems there a "nuisance."

Last week, a fight that began with a stabbing at the club ended up in a car chase that seriously injured an 18-year-old pedestrian miles away at 56th Street and Hillsborough Avenue. Just before the fight started, deputies made four drug arrests in the club's parking lot.

"We've had more than our share of trouble there," said Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Rod Reder.

But an attorney for the club, Patrick Courtney, said the bar is being unfairly blamed for the incidents and accidents. But he said the club hopes to relocate elsewhere.

"We're not even sure those who are arrested are patrons of the club or if they're gathering there because there's a crowd there," Courtney said. Since March, deputies have made 75 arrests for drugs, fighting and alcohol in the bar's parking lot. And authorities say they have become so fed up with disturbances that they would like to see the club shut down.

"We're obviously being diligent," said Maj. Al Perotti Jr., whose district patrols the area. "If that means actively seeking to close them down, then that's what we're going to do."

He called Patrick's a "a nuisance in our community."

Jay Lalwani bought the club a year ago. The previous liquor license was held by Patrick and Victoria Sufka, records show.

Perotti said deputies became aware of problems at Patrick's in January because of the large crowds gathering at the club and hanging around outside after its 3 a.m. closing time. The club is open on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Radio station WLLD-FM 98.7 began promoting dance nights there on Wednesdays in August, encouraging listeners to come out and join the fun.

But the fun, Perotti said, sometimes turned into trouble.

"If you'll look at the list of arrests, you'll find most of those are on Wednesdays," he said. "We really couldn't afford not to pay attention to all the criminal activity that went on there."

Although sheriff's officials may have problems at Patrick's, WLLD promotions director Andrew Fleming said his station's disc jockeys have not complained about incidents inside the club.

"They've told me about some fights outside of Patrick's," he said. "But not too much goes on in the club."

Courtney said Patrick's employs security inside the club, and the shopping center owner has officers that patrol the parking lot.

He said the club is concerned about the arrests and has asked the Sheriff's Office whether it could hire off-duty deputies as security.

But Perotti refused because he said allowing deputies to work as security would mean the Sheriff's Office sanctions what goes on inside and outside the club.

"We certainly don't approve of what's going on," Perotti said.

Perotti said deputies have been diligent in patrolling the club, which is in an area with the most crime per capita in unincorporated Hillsborough.

The 8.3-square-mile area is bordered by Tampa city limits on the south, Bearss Avenue on the north, Interstate 275 on the west and Bruce B. Downs on the east.

Many families who live in the area are impoverished, according to census figures.

Perotti called the neighborhood an at-risk community. And Patrick's Beach Club, he said, doesn't make the situation there any better.

"You don't need anything else adding to the problem," he said. "It's not the right venue."

Problems at the club date back several years.

On Oct. 4, 1998, 27-year-old Garry St. Preux was stabbed to death during a fight in the club parking lot. This year, a 37-year-old woman told authorities she was kidnapped outside the club and raped by three men. And March 9, Perotti said, someone threw a beer bottle at a parked patrol car, shattering a window.

Arrests made since March have involved charges of possession of crack cocaine, aggravated battery, disorderly conduct and concealed weapon.

Despite the problems cited by law enforcement, Stokes said the times she's been to the club have been incident-free.

She said she saw no drugs or fights, only lines of club-goers waiting to get through the doors and onto the dance floor.

"If the bouncers like the way you look, they'll pull you of the line and let you go in first," she said. "It's an all-right club."

-- Melanie Ave can be reached at (813) 226-3473 or melanie@sptimes.com.

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