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Hookah lounge speaks on gathering on West Chimes Street; says it's being blamed for based on misinformation
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BATON ROUGE - A business on West Chimes Street in Baton Rouge says it is being unfairly blamed for a large gathering that happened earlier this week.
Hookah lounge The Lotus has operated for nearly a year and says they are being blamed for the large gathering based on misinformation being spread.
Footage from a Ring camera submitted by a viewer showed that by early Tuesday morning, W. Chimes was full of people.
Hillary Hall Robinson, the lounge's attorney, says that the large crowd was from an LSU Welcome Week event.
"On Monday there was an event sponsored by the Louisiana State University Housing Authority; it was a back-to-school event. From that event that so many students attended, overflow from students led to Chimes Street and surrounding streets in that particular area," Robinson said. "So the misconception that has been constantly played is that the Lotus was in fact the person that orchestrated or facilitated the overcrowding of the street, when in fact, it was just an overflow from the party that was thrown by the University."
The gathering took a scary turn when footage showed many people running down the street. The Lotus Business Manager Kwane Douglas said he noticed people were sprinting down the street. As for what led to that, police are still investigating.
"I had just left our security guards. I actually told them to try their best to clear the people away from our neighbor's place. As I was coming back in the establishment, I just heard the commotion behind me, and I turned around, and it was a sea of people running in every direction," Douglas said.
The next morning, Douglas says he woke up to social media pointing the finger at his businesses as the reason for the gathering.
"An event that was school-sponsored and then the let-out of that event being blamed on our business, using a flyer that didn't belong to us. So I just felt like ok I have to retain counsel; I have to get the story out, the correct story," Douglas said.
Brian Anderson, a realtor who owns residential units next to the Lotus, says The Lotus's Instagram promoted an after-party for LSU students following the school event.
He sent WBRZ Multiple social media posts that talked about a welcome week block party after-party that was going on Aug. 17 at the Lotus.
However, Robinson and The Lotus disagreed.
"The Lotus did not solicit, advertise, or say, 'Hey, come to The Lotus; this is the after-party for the Louisiana State University Housing after event.' If it was said, it was said through hearsay; it wasn't an official statement from the business," Robinson said.
Robinson also said that The Lotus did everything it was supposed to do as a business when it saw the very large crowd.
"They did not allow a plethora of children to come into that establishment after a certain limit. They told everyone no. What you saw on videos from patrons of that street were videos of patrons of that street," Robinson said.
There was another promotion going around on social media saying that there was going to be a back-to-school patio party at The Lotus scheduled for Friday, Aug. 21, welcoming both LSU and Southern.
However, Douglas told WBRZ they are now only operating at a max capacity of 10 for the time being and that the event is no longer happening.
Robinson says The Lotus is cooperating with the standards given to them by the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office. WBRZ reached out to the fire marshal's office for info, but hasn't received any.
Robinson also says they have more information that they will be releasing later on and that they would have a planned media date for a release of other brewing information that has not been equally weighted.
"We have the surveillance, we have the documentation, the videos ourselves of that night that was not shown, that would also show the evidence of what I'm saying," Robinson said.
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