SF’s DNA Lounge defends restraining measures used on Black woman outside venue

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – San Francisco nightclub DNA Lounge is defending how its security guards restrained a Black woman outside of the venue over the Halloween weekend. Last week, a visitor to the club, Lauren Hopkins, said she was placed in a chokehold by security and posted a video of the altercation on her Instagram. DNA Lounge sent a statement, which accused Hopkins of striking several staff members.

Now, the club has released video of its own showing what they say led up to the encounter.    San Francisco jury tosses out false murder confessions Jessica Lennon, the general manager of DNA Lounge, showed a surveillance video of an incident recorded back on Halloween weekend in which she said DNA security physically restrained an intoxicated and violent customer who was denied access to the club. You can watch portions of the video above.

“Her friends step in between her and security trying to keep her from continuing to engage with us. That’s the point where she kicks one of my security guards,” Lennon described. The general manager says Hopkins struck several members of DNA’s security staff while refusing multiple efforts to be escorted away from the front of the club.

She said she was on the sidewalk at the time and saw part of the incident firsthand. The part that Lennon says she saw was Hopkins being restrained by her security guard. That part was not captured in DNA’s security footage… but was recorded on a bystander’s cell phone.

  In that video, you can hear Hopkins saying that she is being choked and a man arguing with security about it. Lennon says that she did not see Hopkins put in a chokehold.     “From my perspective, there was no actual pressure being put on her throat,” Lennon said.

“My head of security has been doing his job for a very long time and he’s very good at it. He had his arms exactly where they needed to be, in order to control her movement without compressing her airway. ” However, Hopkins says the DNA video doesn’t show how it all began.

  “DNA Lounge’s own security guards putting their hands on me when they shouldn’t have, and me defending myself,” she recalled. “At that point I was livid. ” KRON ON is streaming live now .

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embed-container object, . embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Hopkins maintains she was choked and does not believe what happened to her was justified.    “No,” she told KRON4.

“Absolutely not. I don’t have a medical degree. I told my account to the medics.

They didn’t tell me that I was lying. They didn’t say I was being delusional. ” Lennon says in the wake of the incident several staff members experienced some harassment in the community.

  “I have about 50 staff at DNA Lounge. Fifteen of them are security, and all of our staff are incredibly shaken up right now,” she said. In response to a question about whether the force used by security was justified, she said, “I believe that the woman in the video left them no other option at that point but to restrain her.

” No arrests were made at the scene, and no criminal charges were filed by either side. San Francisco police say there are no investigative updates to this incident. .