Tue, Jan 16th, 2024 - 12:47pm
March 05, 2024 - 1:33pm | By Chris Larson
(Fargo, ND) – Overserving at the Windbreak Saloon was at the center of discussion at a special meeting of the Fargo City Commission Tuesday afternoon.
Members of the Fargo City Commission heard from Fargo Police and Windbreak attorney Tim O’Keeffe regarding an October 21, 2023, incident involving overserving of a patron of the south Fargo establishment.
“The term ‘over intoxicated,’ as defined by the City of Fargo, has nothing to do with a person’s actual BAC, or the number of drinks they’ve consumed,” O’Keeffe said. “It is defined by ordinance as ‘a person’s obvious intoxication or impairment that is reasonably discernible or evident to a person of ordinary experience.’”
Sgt. Alden Golos, the liaison between Fargo Police and the Windbreak Saloon, briefed the Commission regarding the incident.
A citizen had called Fargo Police to report someone passed out outside the saloon, and the individual “was extremely intoxicated,” Golos said.
“They said he couldn’t walk, form complete sentences, stand on his own, and had urinated himself,” he said. The individual was transported to a local hospital and then to a detox facility.
Golos said the individual arrived at The Windbreak at 11:51 p.m., and spent 96 minutes at the bar, in which he had a total of 14 drinks, 10 of which were shots.
Sgt. Golos said the individual was sitting with his back to the security cameras, noting that he could not observe the individual’s facial expressions.
“He was sitting with employees who were off the clock, to include a manager,” he said.
Golos said the shots were described as ‘liquor energy shots,’ according to a manager.
Fargo Chief of Police David Zibolski said there were 19 calls for service for overserving in 2023.
“Over intoxication has not improved,” he said.
O’Keeffe says the Windbreak has been cooperative.
“We’ve been here a few times,” he said. “We hear the same comments. It has gotten through to them, there hasn’t been another charge that I have heard of.”
The Commission voted to find a violation and apply a one-day suspension and $1,000 administrative penalty by a 4-0 vote, with Mayor Tim Mahoney absent. Deputy Mayor Arlette Preston presided over the meeting.
