14th Street had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day yesterday. First, a car hopped the curb and crashed into the Trader Joe’s. Then, a driver pummeled a cyclist at 14th and Rhode Island Avenue NW. To cap things off, there was a bizarre altercation at Black Whiskey in which a patron attacked other customers with bleach outside the bar.
Management penned the following post on the bar’s Facebook page last night. It says that a patron poured bleach lifted from the bar’s cleaning supplies storage early yesterday morning, then climbed the roof to empty the bottle onto the sidewalk—targeting other patrons and apparently injuring several people. Police were called to the scene and two male victims were transported to Howard University Hospital.
The ownership and management of Black Whiskey is greatly concerned about the incident that occurred early this morning in front our establishment and the subsequent social media post related to the event. First, we hope the injured persons are doing well physically and emotionally. Second, please know that we have been cooperating with the authorities and working closely with our good neighbors at Trade to determine who perpetrated this act. Video tape reveals that an individual patron at Black Whiskey, with no affiliation to Black Whiskey exited the rear of the building, stole a bottle of bleach from our cleaning supplies and climbed to the top of our roof. From there it appears he emptied the contents of the bottle and then threw the bottle to the sidewalk. His intended target appears to have been a group of Black Whiskey patrons with whom he had an altercation with inside the bar and who exited the front of the building just moments before the incident.
Our staff was not aware of the incident until after it occurred and fully cooperated with police on the scene. We have since shared video surveillance to assist the police investigation.
We pray the facts prove this to be a dispute between two groups at a bar and nothing more sinister for the sake of our community.
Sincerely, Black Whiskey Team
The police report from the incident contains additional details, as reported by the Washington Blade: “Complainant 1, Complainant 2, and Witness 1 report that after getting in a verbal dispute with two subjects in front of the Black Whiskey and Trade nightclubs, Suspect 1 threw a bottle of bleach out of a second floor window of the Black Whiskey.” It continues, “The bleach covered Complainant 1 and Complainant 2 and got into their eyes. Suspect 1 then fled this scene, exiting the Black Whiskey from a rear door.”