Boondocks owner Shawn Bermudez was arrested and booked at the central jail Saturday night when Houston Police Department officers responded to another noise complaint at the popular Montrose nightspot.
Tuesday afternoon, Houston Police Department Public Information Officer Jodi Silva confirmed to Rocks Off that Bermudez had been arrested and was processed at the downtown jail for a Class C misdemeanor.
According to frequent Rocks Off photographer and contributor Marco Torres, who was at Boondocks Saturday to hear legendary New York City turntablist DJ Spinna, who had been brought down by Red Bull for the event, Boondocks' managers and DJs had been warned during an HPD stop at the club February 17 on a previous noise violation complaint that "next time someone would be arrested."
Torres said that he purposely parked two blocks from the club so as to get an idea of possible sources of sound complaints, and "you could neither hear the music nor feel the bass."
Bermudez confirmed to Rocks Off that he had been arrested, but was not aware of any ticketing other than his own. He informed us he has been meeting with HPD to work on solutions for sound ordinance issues unrelated to Boondocks, and plans to continue to work with HPD to solve any outstanding issues.
Other eyewitnesses who requested anonymity told Rocks Off that it is widely believed in the immediate locale that a single neighbor may be the source of the noise complaints, and that the issue may not be so much the volume of the music at the club but rather noise that is being made by people parking in the neighborhood: Slamming doors, loud talking, bottles and other trash being thrown in yards or littering the street, etc.
Bermudez noted that the club only began having complaints in January of this year, which suggests that the complaints may be coming from a new property owner in the area.
Bermudez confirmed that the parking and traffic in the neighborhood could be the impetus for the complaints rather than the volume of music coming from Boondocks. He informed Rocks Off that he has tried to get a handle on this possible angle by parking at various places south of the club in the residential neighborhood so as to get an idea of crowd traffic, behavior and noise.
He added that there is some thought to hiring an off-duty officer to bike patrol the area and exercise more control over the behavior of people parking in the neighborhood who are frequenting Boondocks or other bars in the area such as Etro, Anvil, Catbird's, Royal Oak and others.
Bermudez noted that HPD is not able to inform him as to the source(s) of the noise complaints because of possible witness-tampering issues, but that the complainant(s) would be revealed if and when his case goes to trial.
Bermudez has entered a plea of not guilty and has retained an attorney.
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