Tuscaloosa Mulls Revoking Former Tide Star's Business License
TUSCALOOSA, AL — The City of Tuscaloosa will soon consider revoking the business license of a hookah bar owned by former Crimson Tide football standout and Super Bowl LVIII champion Isaiah Buggs. Click here to subscribe to our free Tuscaloosa Daily newsletter and breaking news alertsThis comes after Patch previously reported that Buggs was charged with two counts of animal cruelty last week, in addition to facing pending charges in two other criminal cases in Tuscaloosa Municipal Court. Buggs is accused of pointing a handgun at two women and shoving Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley during separate incidents at Kings Hookah Lounge on Greensboro Avenue. Patch also reported last week that the hookah bar has a long history of city code violations that include overcrowding, operating without a business license and failing to pay city sales taxes. Speaking through his agent, Buggs asserts that the myriad accusations and pending cases are part of a concerted effort by the City of Tuscaloosa to damage his reputation while taking aim at his place of business in the hopes of shutting it down. The City of Tuscaloosa says a hearing will be held June 25 at 8:30 a.m. to consider revoking the business license. Ahead of the hearing, city officials said its revenue department has received complaints from the Tuscaloosa Police Department concerning Kings Hookah having become a public nuisance and dangerous to the public, in addition to finding that Kings Hookah has been delinquent in paying its sales taxes, liquor taxes, and in renewing their business licenses numerous times over the past four years.What's more, Chief Blankley says the business is operating in an illegal manner but pointed out that the events of the last two months have been especially serious. Blankley explained that on April 14 — the weekend of the 2024 Golden Flake A-Day Game —police responded to Kings Hookah Lounge due to an overcrowded parking lot.He went on to say that officers cleared out the "dangerously overcrowded" building and counted the number of individuals 283 patrons as they exited. This is more than three times than the establishment's set occupancy of 83.Buggs was reportedly detained so TPD could issue him a citation for overcrowding and because the Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman appeared to have two active writs for his arrest with the Tuscaloosa Municipal Court. "While waiting on the Municipal Court writs to be confirmed, Mr. Buggs became irate that officers were standing with him and began pacing back and forth and raising his voice," Blankley said in a statement to city officials. "Mr. Buggs then exited Kings Hookah, and officers advised Mr. Buggs that he was not free to go. I was on-scene at the time and attempted to talk Mr. Buggs back into Kings Hookah, but he began to walk away again."Blankley said when he placed a hand on Buggs' shoulder, he turned around and shoved the police chief into several other officers, resulting in a physical altercation that took several officers to place Buggs into handcuffs due to his lack of cooperation. Buggs was taken into custody by TPD and charged with resisting arrest and overcrowding.However, Blankley said that five days later officers responded to Kings Hookah on a reported weapons discharge call, going on to say that this was not the first time that officers have responded to Kings Hookah on such a call.Still, Blankley mentioned that the call was surprising because Buggs had stated on social media that he was temporarily closing Kings Hookah following the events of the weekend before.TPD responded to the shots fired call, where officers learned that a man had approached a group of patrons inside Kings Hookah and pulled out a gun. "The group decided to leave but the man held the firearm towards the back of one of the patron's head and walked out of the bar with the group," Blankley said. "Once the group got into their vehicle, the man pointed the gun at the driver then pointed the gun down at the ground and fired one round into the pavement. Officers were able to locate the spot in the pavement where the bullet hit the ground."A few days later on April 22, TPD officers then made contact with an employee asleep in his running vehicle in the Kings Hookah parking lot at approximately 5:30 a.m. Blankley said officers could see marijuana sitting on the passenger seat of the vehicle and, upon waking the employee up, he attempted to hide the marijuana."Officers had to forcibly remove the employee from the vehicle, and he was charged with possession of marijuana in the second degree and resisting arrest," Blankley said. "Just two days after that, on April 24, TPD received a report that Mr. Buggs and his brother both pointed firearms at two Kings Hookah patrons in the Kings Hookah parking lot. Mr. Buggs and his brother are both charged with menacing related to this incident."TPD received another weapons discharge call on May 19, finding initially that only one vehicle had bullet holes at the scene in the hookah bar's parking lot. Blankley said the vehicle that was struck several times was occupied by three patrons of the business and investigators with from Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit (VCU) responded to the scene. "VCU located 15 shell casings in the Kings Hookah parking lot," Blankley said. "VCU also made contact with drivers of two other vehicles which were shot into during the gunfire, both of which had been unoccupied at the time. Those two victims told investigators that they were inside Kings Hookah when they began to hear gunshots. They were told by Kings Hookah staff that they had to leave the bar and the parking lot even though police were not yet there." Blankley went on to say that Kings Hookah staff was uncooperative with VCU on the night of the incident and Buggs has continued to be uncooperative in the multiagency unit's attempts to obtain footage of the gunfire from the Kings Hookah security camera.The Tuscaloosa Police Department also provided the following list of prior violations ahead of the hearing to consider revoking Kings Hookah Lounge's business license: Since February 2022, eight citations have been issued to either Buggs or a manager of Kings Hookah related to the operation of the business. These include three citations for overcrowding, three citations for doing business without a license, one citation for failure to pay taxes, and one citation for placement of trash. TPD says despite the charges dating back to 2022, Buggs had never appeared in court for the charges until he was arrested in April. TPD has issued 108 parking citations since June 2023 for offenses including obstructing traffic, parking in the street, illegal parking, and parking in a no parking area. A total of 24 vehicles have been towed from the establishment since June 2023. TPD says it has responded to numerous calls of weapons discharge at Kings Hookah Lounge, including, in one instance last year where officers located 23 shell casing on the ground and numerous vehicles with bullet holes.Kings Hookah Lounge has been reported 46 times for noise complaints since it opened in 2020. Buggs, whose current address as mentioned as a residence on Joshua Street in Northport, was a primary contributor on Alabama's 2018 national championship team and was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs when they won Super Bowl LVIII earlier this year.Buggs was signed to the Chiefs' practice squad in 2023 ahead of the Super Bowl run and signed a reserve/future contract with the team in February.Originally from Ruston, Louisiana and drafted in the sixth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buggs has also played for Las Vegas Raiders and the Detroit Lions.Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at [email protected] article Tuscaloosa Mulls Revoking Former Tide Star's Business License appeared first on Tuscaloosa, AL Patch.
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