Bouncers' Facebook post controversial

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Downtown Albuquerque can get pretty rough on weekend nights and the bouncers at one bar may be adding to the problem with their Facebook posts.

A One-Up Elevated Lounge owner called the post a bad-taste decision and says it idoesn't need to draw any more attention to itself.

Pictures posted on the Facebook pages of  security guards may lead to a lawsuit against the club.

One picture shows a man out on the street choking.

A One-Up owner said the man was not thrown out of his club, but had been pepper sprayed at another establishment. He said it was bad taste for his bouncer to snap the picture and upload it.

Some posts on Facebook talk about cleaning someone's blood off, and another has a smiley face saying he hopes to “whip some ass”.

Fighting is something Safe City Strike Force Director Joe Martinez has seen all too often downtown lately.

“There are quite a few clubs that are at the top of the list we are monitoring their calls for service, how many times the police are responding there for fights,” said Martinez.

Martinez took KRQE News 13 along in February to see the problems first hand. He says the patrons and the bouncers cause this.

“That bar is not an upscale bar,” Martinez said of One Up. “I think it does fuel the fire. I know that our gang unit is working with people there to just one thing implement a dress code.”

His department is gathering police reports and calls for service and may head to court to get the bar listed as a nuisance.

“We will sit down and have a meeting and see if we have enough to go forward,” said Martinez.

A new lawsuit is about to be filed against One Up because of what a couple claims bouncers there did to them. The bar owner said he would send a statement Monday night about the pictures but never did.

One Up settled a suit a couple years ago after its bouncers were caught on tape roughing up a customer.   

The state is also looking into the bar.