The owners of Coyote Jack’s Saloon, a downtown Chattanooga bar under scrutiny for its high crime rate, have pushed two legal hearings scheduled for this week into the spring, dragging out the city and state’s efforts to permanently close the bar after the 10th shooting at its address since 2016.
After 19-year-old Brandon Rogers was shot and killed on the patio of the bar in early October, the third fatal shooting at the club since 2016, the city, state and property owners have moved to permanently close Coyote Jack’s. A hearing on the city’s nuisance abatement complaint, an order designed to prevent the business from reopening within the city, has been moved to May at the request of Coyote Jack’s co-owner Ronald “Ronnie” Berke, uncle of Mayor Andy Berke.
According to Assistant City Attorney Keith Reisman, the postponement of the hearing has little effect on the case because the club is required to stay closed until at least after the hearing and must maintain evidence throughout the abatement proceedings.
“Ronnie Berke asked for the case to be continued so he has time for some discovery,” Reisman said. “Nothing really changes because they are still closed through at least the new hearing it’s likely that next thing is a decision on the property owners’ attempt to reclaim the property which will likely be decided in January.”
Following the shooting, the club’s beer permit was revoked by the city’s beer board, its liquor license was suspended by the state and it was discovered that the business license for Bankable Holdings LLC, the company that legally controls Coyote Jack’s, had been revoked months before the shooting.