More information is coming to light about a bar in Luzerne County where a woman was brutally attacked during the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The Prospect Street Cafe bar in Nanticoke has been cited close to 30 times in just eight years.
The victim told Newswatch 16 she walked in to the bar to simply buy a 12 pack of beer, but the attorney for the bar tells a different story. He said she was in there for an hour and a half before the fight started.
Jenn Mieczkowski said she went in during the early-morning hours on New Year’s Day to buy a 12 pack of beer, and then saw a scuffle break out. She said she then walked over to let a friend know about the fight, and that’s when she was attacked.
Mieczkowski and her sister, Ashlee, want the bar closed, but attorney Michael Yelen, who represents the owners of Prospect Street Cafe, said the bar is not a problem.
“People are suggesting it`s a problem bar. I would suggest they are jumping to conclusions since we don`t have all the facts. The liquor control board, the police and the district attorney certainly could express any concerns and as I understand it they`ve made no allegations this is a nuisance bar,” said Yelen.
Since the Prospect Street Cafe opened in 2003, it’s been cited close to 30 times for violations including writing bad checks, serving alcohol to intoxicated customers, serving alcohol after the license expired, failing to post the license had been suspended in the past, noise violations, and fines totaling more than $11,000.
The bar’s liquor license was renewed last November and the attorney for the bar said all the requirements have been met and there was a security guard on duty the night the victim was slashed.
“It`s my understanding that she had been in the bar an hour and a half before the altercation started. When the altercation started security immediately intervened. By that time she was already cut. She was physically involved in an altercation with another woman,” said Yelen.
Mieczkowski calls those statements by the lawyer a “complete lie” and said she was only in the bar for a few minutes.
Nanticoke police continue to investigate.