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House of Blues employee arrested after assault near Marina City
October 15, 2009 – A man who told police he was a security officer at House of Blues Chicago was arrested Monday night after he allegedly assaulted a woman near Marina City on West Kinzie Street. Darrell Gibson, age 31, of Sauk Village, located south of Chicago, was charged with misdemeanor battery. He was released after posting a $1,000 bond. A court hearing is scheduled for November 5. According to Chicago police spokesperson Michael Fitzpatrick, the incident happened at about 11:30 p.m. “A verbal altercation over a camera escalated to a physical altercation.” He says a woman in her 20s “sustained minor injuries to her face.” It is believed Gibson was upset with the woman for taking a photo of him. But a witness who says she made the 911 call that summoned police, says she does not believe the victim photographed Gibson. “We were sitting on a public sidewalk and a tour bus began to come up the driveway and she took a picture of the driveway to the alley,” wrote Anna Vaughn on the social media site BuzzNet.com. “The guards were already pissed that we went by the buses and we were informed that [although] it is public property and we were not [trespassing] by going down there [it was] a safety issue and we politely made our way to the sidewalk.” After the woman photographed the driveway, Vaughn says Gibson, who identified himself as an HOB security officer, “freaked.” She says Gibson and other officers “made sure to inform us that they were already clocked out and were not on HOB property so they were allowed to do whatever they wanted to.” On Wednesday, police were still uncertain if the man actually worked for House of Blues. When contacted by Marina City Online, a manager at House of Blues would neither confirm or deny that Gibson worked there. However, the Chicago Tribune, citing “a source close to the investigation,” is reporting that three employees of House of Blues have been suspended without pay pending an investigation by HOB into the fight. House of Blues acknowledged the incident involved “a security guard” without saying if the security guard was an employee. The music venue said in a statement, “We take our responsibility to maintain the safety of both our patrons and the artists who play at the House of Blues very seriously. We are looking into the incident and will cooperate fully with the authorities.”
Incident caught on cell phone video Tiffany Bryant, a friend of the woman involved in the altercation, captured the incident on cell phone video. She uploaded the video to YouTube on Tuesday but the video was soon removed by YouTube, apparently for what the web site claimed was a violation of its terms of use. The video clearly shows the man identified as Gibson striking a young woman in the face. The woman falls to the ground. Shortly after that, he strikes her again. The woman crumples to the ground once more and is motionless for several seconds. Another security officer in the video is heard on his radio asking that a detail officer named “Murph” be sent to the area. He tells the woman that “a police officer” is on his way.
(Above) In this enhanced frame from cell phone video, a man at right, identified by police as Darrell Gibson and who identified himself to police as an employee of House of Blues Chicago, has just struck in the face an unidentified woman in her 20s, who falls to the ground. The incident happened in a private driveway that leads to the marina level of Marina City. In the background is Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse. (Click on image to view larger version.)
The incident happened on the south side of West Kinzie Street, northeast of House of Blues but on the same block, between the unfinished Museum of Broadcast Communications and Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse. A private driveway in the area leads to the marina level at Marina City, where tour buses can load and unload. On September 8, a shoving match between two women turned into a stabbing at Marina City’s House of Blues following a concert by rap artist Jay-Z. A 20-year-old man, who was the brother of one of the women, was stabbed, according to police, by the 32-year-old boyfriend of the other woman. The victim was treated and released at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. On May 16, following a late night rap concert at House of Blues at which multiple fights broke out, according to witnesses, a 21-year-old man was shot and injured. There have been no arrests in that incident because, said a Chicago police spokesperson, the victim could not give a good description of the suspect. Lawsuit claims assault, false imprisonment by HOB security Meanwhile, a woman who claims she was assaulted by a House of Blues bouncer in July has filed a lawsuit in Cook County against HOB Chicago, seeking $50,000. Kristen Chopp says on July 20, a security officer named Rikki Jones removed her from a public area at House of Blues and took her “to an isolated room” where she was “held against her will.” She says she was then “battered about the face and body, placed in imminent fear of additional bodily harm and intentionally subjected to other extreme and outrageous conduct” by Jones and other HOB employees. In her complaint, filed on October 8, Chopp claims false imprisonment, negligence, battery, and emotional distress. A status hearing is scheduled for January 13.
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