Shreveport Bar Faces Scrutiny After Underage Guests at Party

There is a big furor over what happened at a Shreveport nightclub early Sunday morning at the Uptown Bar on Marshall Street. The owner of the business got a permit to host a special event at the location which would involve closing the street at Creswell and Marshall. The permit allows for 300 people. It was a college graduation party involving folks under age 21.

Shreveport City Councilman Alan Jackson tells KEEL News he was at the club later in the evening. He did not know about the earlier party which involved the young folks. Jackson tells us 7 to 8 police officers arrived on the scene after getting a call about underage folks in the club. Jackson says the officers were about to write a summons to the owner of the club for the underage people in the club. Jackson says he asked the officer if he could loop Chief Wayne Smith in to see what could be done. Jackson then called the Chief who picked up the phone at 1:15 in the morning. Jackson told the Chief what was going on and handed the phone to the officer. After that conversation the officer decided to give the owner of the club a warning.

You can click here to listen to our conversation with Councilman Alan Jackson.

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Jackson acknowledges he probably should not have intervened in the incident. He says "I probably should have let this thing play out and deal with the consequences at a later date. But in the moment, I asked the officer to consider who Ryan Williams is and let him know this was a one time thing to honor his son's graduation."

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Shreveport Police spokesman Chris Bordelon is quoted on KTBS saying the "“Chief Smith actually did not speak with the officers on scene. He did, in fact, speak to a city council member that was present at that location. And the information at that point in time was to forward all of the information to our Alcohol Beverage Ordinance office.” But Bordelon says he was misquoted in the KTBS report. He says the Chief did speak to the Sergeant at the scene. He says that conversation lasted only 30 seconds.

On Tuesday afternoon the owner of the business was issued a citation for permitting persons under the age of 21 to be in the business.