Louisville's police chief tells Bardstown Road crowds 'if you can't get right, don't go out'

Speaking about the department's Summer Task Force, Louisville Metro Police Chief Paul Humphrey addressed a busy weekend on Bardstown Road that saw dozens of arrests, citations, two shootings and a local bar's liquor license suspended.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Louisville's police chief didn't hold back Wednesday in his message to the crowds of people he said are causing trouble in the Highlands.

"This is not OK," Louisville Metro Police Chief Paul Humphrey said. "If you can't get right, don't go out."

Speaking about the department's Summer Task Force, Humphrey addressed a busy weekend on Bardstown Road that saw dozens of arrests, citations, two shootings and a local bar's liquor license suspended.

"If you want to go out and act stupid, I don't have the cure for stupid except for handcuffs," he said. "We will do what we can to make sure people stay orderly. They have a good time, but when they don't we're going to be there to take care of it."

This stems from unruly groups of people in Bardstown Road early Sunday morning, with several fights breaking out — including one in front of a hookah lounge that was caught on video.

Tuesday, Metro Alcoholic Beverage Control suspended Atomic's alcoholic beverage license, claiming the bar didn't do enough to remedy a situation inside that led to a shooting outside.

Atomic refuted those claims in several statements. Monday, before the suspension was issued, Atomic co-owner Dustin Hensley publicly rejected claims that the late-night fights in the Highlands involved patrons from his bar.

"The fights that are occurring throughout the neighborhood do not involve our customers,” Hensley said in a statement. "These are being caused by people that are simply coming into the neighborhood to walk the sidewalks and cruise the streets."

Since Atomic's liquor license suspension, there has been talk about what's next for the two-year-old bar and others in the area when it comes to safety.

"The problem is not the identity of the people, the problem is the behaviors of the people when they are in our neighborhood," Councilperson Ben Reno-Weber, D-8, said.

Reno-Weber, who represents the Bardstown Road corridor, was part of a Highlands Commerce Guild meeting Wednesday morning. He said everything is now on the table in order to curb violent gatherings in the street.

"This is a nationwide problem, and it just happens to be in Louisville that the concentration is here," he said. We've seen this on the Waterfront, we've seen this in NuLu, if we saw it in Russell we'd be doing exactly the same things. People are aligned that this is a problem that they are sick of."

The Louisville Hospitality Association agreed, its members saying they're concerned with the last several weekends of violence.

"We've been the victims of shootings, robberies, cars stolen from our employees, break-ins, safes stolen out of buildings," Sean Vandevander said.

Humphrey said all options are on the table when it comes to violence prevention.

"You see that when the bars close, the problems stop," he said. "And so the earlier we can get that done, the better."

The chief said he's not sure if this weekend will be quieter with Atomic's liquor license suspended, but said the department's Summer Task Force will be in the area again.

"We responded with a lot of investment by LMPD, the sheriff's office, corrections, parks, we brought horses, right, with the idea that we could address the data-driven problem and it has not worked the way we had wanted it to, so now we are exploring what the other options are," Reno-Weber said.