Another Club Shuttered After Violence

Thinking of heading to Dupont Circle's Cloud tonight for some appetizers and aperitifs? Think again. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board served the swank Dupont Circle "restaurant" with a summary suspension yesterday, forcing it to close its doors and halt operations. The suspension comes after a patron was stabbed at Cloud on Feb. 16.

According to the suspension notice, the victim was stabbed three times, twice after security had already intervened in the altercation between the two club patrons. "The victim was extremely intoxicated, having been served at least six alcoholic beverages in the establishment," the suspension notice says. At the time of the attack, security was being provided by Mad Power Unit, a promotional outfit associated with the nightclub Pearl, whose license was also revoked by the board following a spate of violent incidents.

In addition to Thursday night's stabbing, the summary suspension details a litany of other violent incidents that have taken place over the course of the last two years at Cloud, many of them involving patrons who were hit by glass bottles and rushed to the hospital.

To make matters worse, the suspension letter says that when alcohol administration investigators arrived at the scene Thursday night, they discovered Cloud was providing entertainment, even though it had not gotten board approval to do so.

Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration director Maria Delaney says the board made the decision to suspend Cloud's license on Wednesday "because of the pattern of violence" at the establishment. It delivered the suspension notice the next day.