Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

By Gregory Smith
Journal staff writer

A 22-year-old man from Marblehead, Mass., who tried to help an acquaintance in a fight outside a nightclub in the Washington Park section of Providence, was shot in the leg early this morning, according to the police.

Resean Akil Smith was treated at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence for a non-life-threatening wound to his inner left thigh, police Maj. Thomas F. Oates III said.

Police officers responded to a call of a disturbance at 1 a.m. at the nightclub Platinum at 1206 Broad St. -- the former location of La Rumba nightclub -- and saw people lying on the ground and others running away, Oates said. There had been a fight, he said, and one of the people on the ground was Smith.

Smith told the police later that he had been invited to a private party at Platinum and that while he was there, he began to help collect money at the door. When the club closed for the night, he said that a large fight broke out right in front of the building.

He told the police that somebody he knows was being beaten by a group of individuals and that he went to help. As he grabbed a man who was on top of a pile of fighters, he was shot, he said.

Oates said that he will have the police license enforcement unit investigate the incident, in addition to the criminal investigation, and that the matter almost certainly will be referred to the city Board of Licenses for a possible sanction against the holder of Platinum's liquor license.

The police often ask the board to sanction licensees for violence that occurs on the licensed premises or in proximity to the premises. A sanction sometimes is an order by the board that the licensee hire or enlarge a private-duty detail of police officers or otherwise arrange for better security. There was not detail yesterday, according to Oates.

Oates said the police have had their eye on Platinum since it opened as a successor to La Rumba, where the police and the board had to deal with violent incidents including a murder.

 Tags  Platinum Providence shooting

Comments

DC said:

Gee, a violent crime outside a night club in Providence? Wow, that almost never happens. Good reporting. We all need to know when such a rare event occurs.

Link | January 9, 2009 5:53 PM
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dg said:

Better lighting, cameras and more cops. That should solve the problem. If not pull the license and close the bar/club. No club=no problem.

Link | January 10, 2009 7:40 AM
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D said:

In my Opinion, i Just think these people need to grow-ip. Seriously you go to a Nightclub to dance &/ Have a good time. Not to start fighting. La gente tiene que Madurar un poco mas. That's just Reality

Link | February 10, 2009 4:57 PM
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