Partygoers Flee Soundz

A Thursday night police raid of a local bar sent scores of partygoers fleeing out a back exit and resulted in multiple summonses against the owner, according to eyewitness accounts.

The incident occurred at Soundz Lounge, located on Broadway between 123rd and 124th streets, where several hundred patrons-many of them Columbia students-were gathered for a party.

Witnesses said that at least half a dozen uniformed and undercover officers approached the bar around 1:15 a.m. but were stopped at the door because they lacked a warrant. The two students who were throwing the party, Lawrence Sulak and Ian Mactavish, both CC '08, said that one of the bar's bouncers tipped them off to the police presence.

"He was carding, and he came up to us and said, 'Anyone who's underage, they need to get out,'" Mactavish said.

Sulak then ushered the crowd in the bar's downstairs lounge-which he estimated at 200-out a back door. "Within a minute, I was able to clear the whole area," he said. "If they had had a warrant, that could have been worse."

According to the owner and manager of Soundz Lounge, who asked that his name be withheld, officers told many of the remaining patrons to show proof of age. Some, he said, offered Columbia IDs and admitted to underage drinking rather than showing their allegedly fake IDs.

"Basically, they [students] are buying expensive, well-done fake IDs that doormen cannot detect," the manager said, adding that the bar would invest in a card scanner to avoid similar incidents in the future.

Three summonses were issued to the owner for serving alcohol to minors, and two students had their IDs confiscated, according to Mactavish and Sulak.

After the bar had emptied out, Mactavish said he stepped outside to speak with the police, but that he was ushered to a nearby sergeant by two undercover officers. "The police officers kind of took offense and pretty much illegally went through my wallet," he said.

Mactavish, Sulak, and the manager all said that the lounge did not knowingly serve alcohol to underage drinkers.

"I'm disappointed not at the police. I'm disappointed at the kids who are trying to beat the system," the manager said, adding that minors who use fake IDs "are putting their lives on the line."

A representative for the 26th Precinct could not be reached for comment.