Slim's Bouncer Busted for Beatdown, Customers Sue

Concertgoer claims he was beaten, choked, and tossed down the stairs — and he wants more than an apology.

By Joe Eskenazi

Just what went down at San Francisco SOMA-neighborhood nightclub Slim’s in the wee hours of Oct. 13, 2007 is unclear. But this much is inarguable: Police crashed the party and arrested Slim’s bouncer Devin M. Williams for allegedly beating a pair of the club’s customers.

Four months later, Williams remains locked up. He has been charged with one count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and one count of battery likely to produce serious injury, both felonies. Convictions could result in a jail term of up to two years in county lockup or as many as eight years in state prison.

Meanwhile, 48-year-old local concertgoer James Paul Leuschner has made it clear that Williams’ alleged actions weren’t “likely” to cause injuries — they did. Along with friend and fellow San Franciscan Steven Rose, Leuschner filed suit against Williams and Slim’s in December claiming he was severely beaten by the bouncer, who supposedly tossed Leuschner down a flight of stairs … (Click for 'More')

fracturing bones in the contractor’s face. While it is not listed in the police report, Leuschner’s lawyer, Arnold Laub, also claims Williams beat his client with a flashlight.

Neither Leuschner nor Rose could be reached for comment, but, according to Sgt. Steve Mannina of the SFPD, Leuschner told police on the night of the incident that he was standing near the stage at Slim’s when the bouncer approached him from behind and pushed him.

Leuschner told police that the bouncer, 39, accused him of striking a woman. The concertgoer claims Williams grabbed him by the throat and dragged him out of the club before hurling him down Slim’s short flight of stairs.

Mannina said it’s possible Rose may have attempted to aid his friend and was struck by Williams as well — which could explain his odd behavior following the alleged beating. Police called to the scene found Rose behaving “a little belligerent,” in Mannina’s words, and detained him for public intoxication. Paramedics transported Leuschner to San Francisco General Hospital, while the 37-year-old Rose spent at least several hours at a nearby Sheriff’s Department jail until he was deemed sober and released.

On Nov. 5, roughly three weeks after the incident, Rose reported to the police that he, too, had been injured in the beating. Anne Lee, a paralegal in Laub’s office, said Rose worries he may have torn the rotator cuff in his shoulder while Leuschner suffered a fracture in the orbital bone of his eye socket.

Williams’ four months behind bars is not his first experience with incarceration, incidentally.

In 2000, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of brandishing a firearm in the presence of a San Francisco police officer “in a rude, angry, or threatening manner”. He served 90 days in county jail and three years probation. He is currently being held on $275,000 bail and has a preliminary hearing on Feb. 19.

Laub rattled off a number of other recent felony convictions in Alameda County and San Francisco for Williams, adding that there was “no appropriate reason” for the bouncer’s alleged behavior -- and no appropriate reason a man such as Williams should have been working at Slim’s in the first place.

Laub said his clients want to be “made whole" -- and, according to the legal documents he filed, this will require a minimum of $25,000.

As the lawyer put it in the suit: “The aforementioned acts of Defendants … were despicable, willful, wanton, reckless and oppressive, and justify the awarding of exemplary and punitive damages at trial according to proof.”

Slim’s co-owner and general manager Dawn Holliday did not return phone calls for this story, so it's unclear whether Slim's knew about Williams’ past.

Not that Laub cares all that much.

“If they didn’t investigate his background, they were negligent,” he said. “If they did investigate it … then they’re negligent for hiring him.”