Responding to a spate of fatal shootings by security guards, Maryland lawmakers passed new standards and oversight procedures for the profession. But unarmed bouncers working for bars and restaurants were not included in the reforms, and private security employed by casinos and health care facilities just became exempt this month.
Advocates for the overhaul wanted the new standards – which include mandatory training, background checks and use-of-force reporting – to apply across the profession. Restaurant and bar bouncers were excluded from those regulations in the final package of reforms that reached Gov. Wes Moore’s desk in 2023, and last-minute legislation passed this year carved out more exemptions.
The new exemptions took effect Oct. 1 – the same day that a Baltimore bouncer turned himself in following a viral video showing him choking a Loyola University Maryland student and slamming his head through a car window outside a Federal Hill bar on Sept. 27 prompted calls for accountability. The bouncer, 41-year-old Kevin Weaver, is being held in jail on first- and second-degree assault charges. Last week the student sued Weaver, ACE Event Services Group, the security company that employed him and another bouncer who is also being sued, and two LLCs associated with the bar, Cross Street Public House. The lawsuit seeks damages for “permanent and debilitating” injuries, including depriving the brain of oxygen while the guard had him in a chokehold, as well as a “severe” concussion leading to a traumatic brain injury…