Steve Novoselac

The Red Carpet Night Club in St. Cloud is a great place to go and hang out, have some beers, listen to music, and the like. Recently, they have been in the news:

Police find man not breathing outside club

Here is a rebuttal to that article by Seth Malinksi (He doesn’t work for the Red Carpet and never has):

I would like to pre-empt this story by stating that I was NOT there at the time and I have NOT spoken directly to the person who is in the hospital. Also, some information may not be completely accurate but the MORAL of the story and the MOTIVATION behind the story can be seen without getting up in arms about a few specifics.

This is to all persons whom may have seen the Channel 5 News about the incident that happened at the Red Carpet on Thursday.

I have been a bouncer downtown St Cloud for over 3 years now. Obviously this situation is the most extreme and without understanding of how “downtown” works you may have already formed an opinion that is unfavorable to the security staff at the Red Carpet I beg you to read what follows and try to understand.

We work in an industry that serves a drug to people for a monetary charge. This drug is alcohol. Not everyone can be trusted to use this drug and maintain a copious relationship with society, police, and themselves. We work at places that invite people to drink at a cheap price with a great surrounding and offer the safety of our security.

Let’s face the facts. Most people can control how they act when under the influence of alcohol. A lot of people cannot. Alcohol inhibits the rational portion of the brain, the cognitive thinking, the motor skills (speech, walking, etc..) Alcohol is a depressant not a stimulant. Judgment is therefore muffled within an hour and decision making process is broken which leads to the reason why you as a customer need security. A lot of people drink from bar to bar, or from home to a bar, or do drugs before they come down to the bar. Many people become extremely agitated by alcohol. Some people are even allergic to alcohol. Voices get louder, people become irrational, and decisions are made without understanding or caring for the consequences.

Fast forward to Thursday April 7th 2004: A man enters the Red Carpet after spending some time with friends at other local bars. This man has a proven public history of drug use and abuse. This man enters the dance room located upstairs at the Red Carpet. He is celebrating graduation from SC Tech college and the birth of his 3rd child. This man begins to act irrationally and showing obvious signs of intoxication. Bartenders immediately recognize this behavior and stop serving the gentleman. He continues to act in this disruptive behavior and then a waitress contacts the security after she is sexually harassed by this man. Security then tries to escort this individual out of the premises. The man decides that he is not leaving. For some reason, in his mind he must be thinking that he is fine and that these “bouncers” are not going to ruin his night of fun and celebration just because he is too intoxicated and because he will swear that he did not assault a waitress. Nevermind the criminal and civil implications to the establishment with allowing someone in this condition to stay. Lawsuits galore…By employees who felt that the establishment did not take proper steps and was negligent in allowing a person to stay in the bar and assault waitresses and bartenders. Customers who can sue for the same premise liability. Then what if he falls down the stairs and breaks his neck, negligence on behalf of the security and the establishment for not making sure that the intoxicated individual did not get down the stairs safely, also if he does leave on his own then he gets in his car and wraps it around a tree and kills himself the bar is liable for negligently allowing someone to leave under obvious intoxication standards attached to the Dramm Shoppe laws of MN. Back to the situation, then the security approaches the man who is acting irrationally towards them as well and physically assaults and batters one security person. Now this man is showing signs of defiance and physical confrontation. A few more bouncers get involved and this man is fighting veraciously, (like a man on drugs..Stimulants of the sort in which he has already been convicted of gives persons who take these drugs almost superhuman adrenaline strength) He is pinned down on the ground and held by the neck. If someone is fighting you right now, and you could hold him down where would you grab him or her. Would you hold him by the arm so that he could kick and bite and hit you with his other arm, or would you try to make sure that the man is no longer in danger to yourself or to others? The man then stops breathing. The police arrive and handcuff the suspect and find out he is not breathing. Then the man is rushed to the hospital and is in critical condition because he has brain damage. Bad luck, poor decision making??? I don’t know but, You make the call but if you ask me this situation could happen in any establishment in any city at any time. Don’t judge the security or the Red Carpet because of this situation.

Now, this guy’s mother wants someone held responsible for what her son is going through. I think that the son should be held responsible for getting drunk out of his gourd and then acting like an idiot. If you start a fight, and then get your assed kicked, it is no one’s fault but your own. It would be nice if people like that were stopped at the door, and not even let in, except then they would go cause an accident, and then try to blame someone else for it. People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions.

Personally, I am glad that they have good security (and I’m not a small guy). People shouldn’t have to deal with flaming drunk morons at the bar. It should be a nice social place to hang out and just get out on the town. The Martini Bar at the Carpet is a perfect example of a “class act” bar. I don’t plan to not goto the Red Carpet anymore because of this, and I don’t think anyone else should either.

Red Carpet Night Club