Police find kids hanging out at popular bar, many arrested during sting

BATON ROUGE – An increase in underage activity in and around a popular bar area has authorities concerned.

Thirty-seven people were arrested in a recent three-week sting in Tigerland, Baton Rouge Police said in a news release, with the effort focused on Reggie's Bar on Bob Pettit.

“During [the sting]… officers noticed an increase in the number of individuals under 18 years of age in the parking lot on Monday nights,” police said.

In addition, authorities are also investigating the popular bar for additional violations. Authorities said the bar had almost double its occupancy limit at times during the sting.

Of those arrested, most were for ID-related offenses, including having fake IDs. Others were for people under 21 drinking or having an open container where it is banned. One person was arrested for battery on a police officer.

Nights are known to get violent in Tigerland. In 2016, a WBRZ News 2 Investigative Unit report found officers were dispatched to bars in the area, on average, nearly half the days in any given month – over the course of 12 months, there were 183 dispatches to three addresses of bars in Tigerland. In the report, Reggie's was found to have the most calls for police, with 99.

“...We were amazed that the numbers were really that high," District Attorney Hillar Moore said in the story about his office's first check of statistics for that area.

> READ more from the WBRZ News 2 and WBRZ.com special report HERE.

In May, the issue of out of control, intoxicated people causing a ruckus was captured on video when a huge brawl broke out in a Tigerland parking lot. The altercation was captured on video and posted on the internet.

The fight, which may have involved two dozen or more people, left people injured. The video showed people being knocked to the ground.

“Every good fight needs a camera man,” someone yells from the background.

The videos – which total about four minutes – are filled with cursing, and at times, too violent to even post on WBRZ.com.

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