The City of Champaign, Illinois is advising use of force training for bar staff who were involved in an incident which resulted in a young woman leaving in an ambulance on March 5th. Deputy City Manager Matt Roeschley, Lieutenant Andre Davis, and Assistant City Attorney Kathryn Cataldo met with bar owner Scott Cochrane on March 10th to discuss the incident.
In an email sent on March 15th (below), Roeschley summarized the meeting. The training program is not a mere suggestion – by all appearances, the City is imposing the training as a requirement to continue doing business in Champaign.
After their investigation of the March 5th incident, officers from the Champaign Police Department concluded that a Red Lion staff member was the victim of battery committed by the young woman who was sent to the emergency room. It is not entirely clear why the City of Champaign would arrive at that conclusion, then later insist that Red Lion bar staff go through use of force training.
Deputy City Manager Matt Roeschley:
“I am writing to recap our meetings on Thursday and Friday of last week concerning the major incident that occurred at Red Lion in the early morning of 3/5.
At our meeting on Thursday afternoon 3/10, you, Scott Cochrane, and Kohle Anderson were present on behalf of Red Lion, and Kathryn Cataldo, Lt. Andre Davis, and I were present for the City. We discussed the incident at length, and Lt. Davis, who had reviewed and analyzed the available footage, described what he observed and his analysis of what occurred.
Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to jointly review the security camera footage from Red Lion, which captured the incident, so you, Lt. Davis, Kathryn, and I met again on Friday 3/11 to do so. In addition to reviewing the footage from 3/5, we also watched a clip shared anonymously from a social media account of a bar security use of force situation that occurred outside Red Lion sometime last fall that raised concerns on the City’s part.
Following a close review of all the footage, we discussed potential mitigation steps Red Lion might take, and we agreed that the appropriate measure is for Red Lion to provide training for its bar security staff, particularly related to physical engagement with patrons and use of force.
Due to staffing issues at the Champaign Police Department, the PD has been unable to offer the bar security training it has periodically provided in the past, called BEST. We agreed on Friday that both the City and Red Lion would seek to identify alternative training solutions and that Red Lion would bring any proposed training course to the Liquor Commissioner’s Office for approval before proceeding.
Our office will follow up with a more formalized document describing the agreed mitigation step within the next few days.
In the meantime, please let me know if questions arise or if you identify a training course you would like the City to consider.”
Click on the image below to see the full 4 page PDF:
