Pour House has record of fights, alcohol violations, police records show

The Carolina Pour House, declared a nuisance by Columbia police, has served alcohol after hours 10 times, underage customers have been caught six times with fake IDs and it has been the site of fights more than a dozen times, according to eight months of police records examined by The State newspaper.

Police Chief Skip Holbrook labeled the Five Points bar a public nuisance last week and ordered owner Daniel Wells to stop serving alcohol after 2 a.m. Bars must have an after-hours permit from the city to serve alcohol legally until sunrise.

Pour House may remain open for business until 2 a.m., but Holbrook also told Wells that a nuisance declaration is grounds to take his business license. Wells’ license is up for renewal, and he has filed the application, said his attorney, Mike Montgomery.

Wells, Montgomery and Holbrook met Thursday in what they called a “positive” session. “My client is trying to cooperate with the city in every way possible,” the attorney said.

In March, Wells was charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature because he put a chokehold on a University of South Carolina student and threw him to the pavement outside the Pour House, police have said.

The 5-foot-8, 140-pound, 22-year-old student lost consciousness and suffered a broken jaw from the impact. He broke a tooth and several were jammed into his gums, police said. A bystander’s video shows a large man applying a chokehold from behind the student and then slinging his limp body onto the street as a crowd pushes outside a door.

Wells, 29, is described in police records as 6-foot-5 and 275 pounds. Wells turned himself in about a week after the March 19 incident. Police taking him to the county jail put Wells in two double-lock handcuffs “due to his stature,” one of the police reports states.

In addition to troubles chronicled by Columbia police, the bar has been fined $900 by state officials for alcohol-related violations in 2015 and 2016, according to records.

In 2015, State Law Enforcement Division agents found the bar, at 800 Harden St., had sold beer to someone too young to buy it, SLED spokesman Thom Berry said. The state Department of Revenue, which issues liquor licenses, fined the bar $500.

Last year, SLED agents caught the sale of liquor after 2 a.m. without the required permit, Berry said. Pour House was fined $400.

In addition, Columbia police records examined by The State newspaper show eight arrests between July 8, 2016, and March 17, 2017.

Those records paint a picture of a bar troubled by rowdy customers, underage drinking, serving customers after the club is legally authorized to do so and fights.

One report shows that on March 15, a loaded gun fell to the floor during a fight between four foreign exchange students and four local college students. Police could not determine whose gun it was.

On Oct. 23, 2016, an 18-year-old sucker-punched a bystander, knocking him unconscious. The teenager, who had a fake ID, ran from police but was cornered inside the fenced Five Points post office property. He fought police to the point that he was shocked with a Taser. Still, the teen hit and kicked several police as he fought being arrested. One of his kicks injured an officer’s knee.

The reports show that Pour House bouncers have asked some customers to leave, sometimes leading to confrontations.

After the March 19 incident, questions arose in the community about whether African-Americans are welcome there, because the student involved is black. The police records examined show that most of the problems have involved white customers, many of them teenagers.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Pour House has record of fights, alcohol violations, police records show."