‘The city was serious’: Female officer assaulted; McAllen takes action

McALLEN — When a video shot in downtown McAllen, at night, in the city’s “Entertainment Cultural Overlay District” goes viral, seeing a female McAllen police officer getting badly punched by a young, well-built guy in a white T-shirt is going to bring about change.

And so it has, with the city’s announcement last Thursday, via a press release, that efforts to curb underaged drinking has already begun: “Less than 12 hours after the intense and engaging public comment at the August 29th City Commission Workshop, during which the public demanded bar operators curb underage drinking, the city issued citations to over a dozen establishments that failed to take even the most basic preventative measures.”

Usually relatively mild-mannered, McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos said by phone Monday that the city isn’t going to tolerate any more, as he puts it, gross inaction on the part of too many S. 17th St. bar owners who have refused to enforce laws against underage drinking.

He sounded angry that the downtown assault against a McAllen peace officer had occurred, angry that despite numerous warnings to change their ways, too many bar owners had refused to comply with the city’s warnings that if they don’t put a stop to underage drinking, severe consequences would follow.

“Now they’re finding out that the city was serious after all,” said Villalobos.

Indeed.

The Bloody Viral Vid

According to the city’s Sept. 4 press release, at McAllen’s municipal court last Tuesday, Sept. 2, downtown bar owners entered 34 misdemeanor pleas, resulting in $11,115 in fines for operating without a special use permit and/or violating its terms.

“No matter how much the city was trying to enforce the ECOD (Entertainment Cultural Overlay District) special use permits, too many people were getting away with too much,” said Villalobos.

For example, bars would sometimes change owners without notifying the city, thereby operating without a special use permit, or they weren’t enforcing the alcohol- drinking age limit (21-and over), and some, said Villalobos, didn’t even have a simple building occupancy permit.

The S. 17th St. video that went viral was shot during the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 24 at approximately 2 a.m.

Two men were shown fighting while a large crowd gathered to watch the action, whooping and hollering while holding their smart phones high in the air to record the action.

One of the men fighting was 18; the other, 17.

McAllen police officers quickly stepped in to stop the fight, and that’s when the female officer got punched.

Her attacker would later tell McAllen detectives that he thought he was hitting someone else, a guy in a blue T-shirt, but the video, which was uploaded to YouTube by @corpuschristicronica, clearly shows he could tell it was a female officer he was punching as he kneeled over her, looking directly at her as he landed a heavy right-hand punch to her face.

As he tried to flee, the officer was able to grab his white T-shirt, but it ripped, and he got away.

It took the female officer some minutes to collect herself, but she eventually got to her feet as she wiped the blood away from her eyes.

McAllen detectives were later able to track her attacker down and place him under arrest as well as the guy he was initially fighting.

The whole scene resembles an old Mad Max dystopian-style movie. The people at the scene of the fight looking like they are in their late teens, early 20s, a few without shirts, all acting like they’re stoked on some substance, yelling, screaming, laughing.

This has been going on for years. So much so, that so-called Gen-Z influencers walk up and down S. 17th St. on busy weekend nights interviewing people, asking them what used to be considered questions too personal to ask. Mainly centered around sex. These videos, too, then get uploaded to YouTube, with each influencer trying to outdo the other to attract the most “subscribers,” which will hopefully monetize their channel.

The city’s going to restore order, said Villalobos.

“And once some of these bar owners lose their special use permits, it’s going to be almost impossible for them to get it back. The state won’t allow us to enact an age curfew, but we can enforce the age limit on who is being allowed into these bars.”

What to do about the full gaggle of those in their late teens who show up on S. 17th St. to just hang out on late weekend nights, though, some looking for trouble, who knows.

Look for the city’s full press release at the end of this story.

This latest S. 17th St. upset falls on the heels of another downtown case that dates back to May of this year.

Published as a story in the May 28th issue of The Advance – “From public lewdness to a fatal DWI wreck” – the lede paragraph reads: In less than a week (five days) after a fatal wreck claimed the life of 20-yearold Gianncarlo Coriabustos, his mother is suing two McAllen bars because, so claims her San Antonio-based attorney, they overserved alcohol to the man now charged with the death of her son, as well as the manslaughter of one other man caught in the crosshairs.

From that story as well: “Defendant NY 17th Floor and Defendant Santa Diabla Cantina, as providers under the (alcohol-related) Act, sold or provided alcoholic beverages to a person who was obviously intoxicated to the extent that he presented a clear danger to himself and others.”

It All Started 20 Years Ago

In early 2005, the McAllen City Commission created the McAllen Downtown Entertainment District, which was under the development of McAllen’s Heart of the City Development Corp.

For new bar owners eager to open up shop, the district was a blessing.

The Entertainment District allowed a new bar, disco, banquet hall to open without the businessman or businesswoman having to go through the usual trying process of applying for a conditional use permit and making their case during a city public hearing.

It also was intent on steering the socalled city’s entertainment industry — alcohol and live music — away from the north side of the city, where new residential areas were springing up almost overnight, toward the S. 17th St. sector, which had been on the skids for years compared to streets like Main St. where the retail sector continued to flourish.

The McAllen City Commission, in 2005, also created a downtown retail district that helped ease the parking requirements for both new and existing commercial buildings under redevelopment.

People like Alida Hernandez, Jim Deuser, Joe Rodriguez, Luis Muñoz, Glen Hagenbach, Lalo Kalifa were involved in the city’s effort to recreate Austin’s famed, or infamous, take your pick, Sixth St. along the S. 17th St. corridor.

Originally, the entertainment district was intended to only stretch three blocks south of Bus. 83, and then it grew another three blocks until it eventually reached all the way to Houston St.

The people who owned some of those old buildings were suddenly selling them to investors intent on remodeling them and turning them into upscale bars. The prices being paid for them was unimaginable to the owners only a few short years before the entertainment-district idea came to fruition. Some owners who thought they’d have nothing but Social Security to live on were suddenly rolling in the dough, so to speak.

It only took five years, though, between 2005 and 2010, for the City of McAllen to realize that things were starting to turn out differently than first envisioned.

In 2010, there were already three dozen bars and more were still setting up shop.

McAllen police made note of the increased arrests for public intoxication and drug possession.

In February 2010, the McAllen PD added six bicycle patrol units to monitor S. 17th St. between Austin and Houston.

Fifteen-plus years later…

McAllen’s Press Release

The City of McAllen continues its swift and decisive actions against bar operators in the Entertainment and Cultural Overlay District (ECOD) who continue to ignore rules designed to keep minors safe.

Less than 12 hours after the intense and engaging public comment at theAugust 29th City Commission Workshop, during which the public demanded bar operators curb underage drinking, the City issued citations to over a dozen establishments that failed to take even the most basic preventative measures.

“They knew we were coming, and they made no changes,” said City Manager Isaac Tawil. “These operators have shown blatant disregard for the law and zero concern for protecting young people in our community. Based on these clear violations, the city has revoked their permits.”

To protect minors, the city is prioritizing enforcement of the two most critical safeguards against underage drinking: age-verification technology and UV ink to clearly mark patrons under 21.

On September 2, as a direct result of these establishments refusing to implement these safeguards, the City issued notices of revocation to the following 20 establishments:

# The Mini Bar
# Valle Verde
# Pasha
# Scores Bar
# Pecado Night Club
# Karma/El Belicon
# Broka
# NY 17th Floor
# The Lab on 17th
# B7 Shot House
# The White Rhino
# Primo # Warehaus
# Precopa
# Tabu
# Hustlerz
# The Flying Walrus
# Grand Central Square
# Noxx
# Yes Shot Bar

The age verification tools are inexpensive and effective, with age-verification systems costing as little as $250 to $500 per year, less than the profit from a single busy weekend. Other Special Use Permit requirements, including surveillance cameras, adequate lighting, and on-site security personnel, remain in place to ensure overall safety and compliance.

These actions follow a series of enforcement efforts in the ECOD:

At Tuesday’s Municipal Court docket, bar operators entered 34 misdemeanor pleas, resulting in $11,115 in fines for operating without an SUP or violating its terms.

Over the weekend, enforcement teams issued 38 citations for fire code violations, operating without permits, and SUP non-compliance.

“McAllen will not tolerate businesses that put profit ahead of public safety,” said Mayor Javier Villalobos. “The rules are clear, and they exist to protect our youth, our families, and the future of our community. Operators who choose to ignore those rules will face the full weight of enforcement,” said Mayor Javier Villalobos.