NORTHAMPTON — Three days after police reported to the License Commission that Tellus & the Satellite Bar served a 20-year-old alcohol, Northampton Police confirmed that the incident was one of mistaken identity and that the patron was, in fact, 21 years old.
The popular nightclub and restaurant appeared virtually before the Commission Monday morning, where the business was penalized with a one-day liquor license suspension and put on six months probation for overcrowding on April 19. Police alleged that an underage patron was discovered in the bar intoxicated and “unable to hold her head up or open her eyes.”
However Peter Irvine, an attorney representing the club, notified the Gazette Wednesday night that accusation of underage service was false.
“Proof has now come to light that the patron was in fact 21 years of age, and thus a legal patron and not underage. The Northampton Police Department made an error in identifying the patron,” the attorney wrote. “Amanda Riseling, the proprietor … found a black wallet tucked behind a container of black napkins on a shelf. That wallet contained identification of the patron referenced above. That identification confirms that the information provided by companions of the patron on the night of the incident was indeed correct: the patron’s birthday was in January 2005, not July, and thus she was of legal age.”
Irvine’s letter went on to argue that officers did not believe the patron’s friends when they initially told police she was born in January 2005. Police, Irvine wrote, confused the patron for another individual found in the department’s database who was born in July 2005.
Upon reviewing the email and investigating further, Police Capt. Alan Borowski confirmed in a phone interview Thursday morning that the patron hospitalized on April 19 was not underage.
Borowski confirmed Irvine’s statement, noting that it was a case of mistaken identity, and that the officer on duty erroneously identified the intoxicated patron as a 20-year-old. He noted that the Police Department never formerly charged the bar with serving alcohol to an underaged customer and requested the hearing in relation to the overcrowding incident.
“We determined that it was a different person than who we believed it was. The person was, in fact, of legal drinking age,” Borowski said. “We never charged anybody with underaged drinking, we only requested a hearing for the overcrowding violation.”
The underage drinking allegation was referenced in the Police Department’s recommended penalty to the business and in Lt. Brian Letzeisan’s testimony of the April 19 night.
Riseling could not be reached immediately for comment on Thursday.
