Police Commissioner wants 911 bar law
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
The fatal bar fight at a Philadelphia Phillies ballpark pub has the city's police commissioner calling for a law requiring bars to report fights to 911.
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Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey says if police can get to an incident early enough they can intervene and stop events from escalating. Two barfights over the weekend ended in deaths, including one that started with a beer spilling incident at a bar in South Philadelphia.
Ramsey: we are trying to prevent serious assaults or in some cases homicides, and McFadden's isn't the only one, we had another one and it started as a disturbance in a bar.
City Councilman Curtis Jones says he is working to come up with co-sponsors for a bill that would mandate any establishment that sells alcohol to report fights or face penalties which could range from fines to possibly losing their liquor license. The bill could be introduced as soon as council returns from their summer recess.