Lindsey Horvath was not at the V-Wine Room on the night in question. A sale is pending and Consbruck will be staying on a consultant with the new owners.
Mikey Consbruck, owner of the V-Wine Room and West Hollywood resident for 22 years, answered a comment on the WEHOville message board confirming the sale of the V Wine Room. “to a very lovely couple as the proprietors.”
Mikey also wanted to set the record straight regarding the ‘incident’ that was reported in WEHOville concerning a Public Records Request made by a West Hollywood resident. The footage which allegedly shows Councilmember John Erickson interfering with the law enforcement proceeding is under seal.
Consbruck tells the story this way. “There was in fact an incident inside V. A woman visiting from New York had rented out half of V Wine Room to have a birthday party for herself and celebrate with friends. One of her guests arrived and a homeless man followed her in, mumbling at her and trying to get her attention. The homeless man was visibly bothered, whether it was drugs or mental illness, I don’t know but he was disrupting the party.
I approached the man and tried to explain that he was disrupting a private event and he needed to leave For about 2 minutes I was talking to him, positioning my body between him and the woman he followed in. After about 2 minutes of me asking him calmly to leave, he looked at me in the eye and said ‘no I don’t”. He then punched me in the face. I fell back and a guest stepped in to help, and he also got punched in the head. That guest was able to take the homeless man to the ground and then the guest and I wrestled the homeless man out the door. He shouted some gay slurs and ran away.
While this was happening John Erickson was up at the counter with a friend of his and he called the West Hollywood Sheriff. John told me he was going to follow the man so he could identify the man to the sheriff once they arrived. I stayed back at work to attend to my patrons and calm the situation down. The sheriff eventually came to the V Wine Room about 45 minutes later to ask me questions to identify the man who assaulted us. I went with them to identify the man who punched us and the sheriff asked me if I wanted to press charges. I said yes I did.
I don’t know who the source that reached out to WEHOville (the Public Records Request by a West Hollywood Resident not related to WEHOville), but he or she was clearly not at V that night. The incident was not between two patrons, it was not between 2 black or hispanic people, it was a homeless man who assaulted me while I tried to calmly get him to leave and then assaulted the patron who stepped in to assist me.
Consbruck continued “when the sheriff arrived, they had me corroborate the incident after John Erickson identified the suspect and asked if want to press charges. As the person pressing the charges I was also the one who had to be the arresting officer on paper. When you look at the police report I had to sign the police report as the arresting office. I thought that was odd because they are the sheriff.
In terms of an ongoing investigation regarding the incident inside V, I have not been contacted again by the Sheriff after I was asked to fill out the paperwork that night. I assumed it was just another incident that will be forgotten.
If there is an ongoing investigation I know nothing about it.
WEHOville will follow up with the Discover Unit of the LAPD, these recordings of the incident are under seal.
This is disgusting- why haven’t the Sheriff followed up? Why was he listed as the arresting officer? Is the Sheriff office too lazy and just content to let homeless people do whatever they want including assaulting people?
Wow. My hair hurts trying to make sense of the bad grammar and syntax errors used in this article by the V guy. WeHoVille needs to hire a proofreader who can insert ‘sic’ where needed. Where’s my aspirin bottle?!
I can’t tell you how much this incident disgusts me!
What disgusts me the most is knowing this man is more than likely still roaming the streets of WeHo as so many others do.
Just sort of sad to hear Mikey won’t be the owner anymore.
I’m assuming the LAPD references should be LASD yes?
John Erickson is always talking about a relaxing drink after work at a bar. The footage probably shows everyone not relaxing and reacting to Erickson’s possible boozy hysteronics. Release it now, please!
Why is West Hollywood sheriffs department hiding the footage from this incident??
The WEHOville article asked questions. Nothing in it formed conclusions. A basic elementary-level understanding of the English language should be required for those who want to post intelligible commentary. I’m not even suggesting a high school civics understanding of the role of The Fourth Estate (look it up). This weekend I enjoyed time away in Rancho Mirage where many former WeHoans now reside. It was fun to hear the almost universal feeling that West Hollywood has become terribly provincial. Oftentimes the debate in the too-often toxicity that is anonymity reminds me of form Congressman Barney Frank, who upon encountering a… Read more »
Alan, were you forming a conclusion that the contributors were giving us accurate information on the original article, regarding this subject? It seems so, when you said “Is this the same Lindsey Horvath who spews sanctimonious sermons from her bully pulpit about what she finds to be unacceptable behavior in our community?”
… and she wasn’t even there.
It is incredibly ironic that the contributors to that piece are anonymous.
I will agree with you about the toxicity, however.
It’s a Public Records Request, the contributor is the LAPD. So better to ask why this is sealed? don’t ya think?
Larry, to clarify, I was talking about the article that lead up to this, which you posted last Friday. With the anonymous contributors, whose story Mikey dispelled. I wasn’t referring to the LASD. I have no idea why it is sealed.
I dont think Mikey dispelled what is on the tape. It was a public records request and its sealed. Thats real news. A city council man is involved as a witness or on tape. He is voting on police funding at the same time. There were no anonymous contributors, I know their names and you do too. I suggest you read Joesph Skiora comment on the same thread.
I’d ask the same question about Horvath in any situation. She is sanctimonious, in my humble opinion. I question the ability of most commenters to read and comprehend fully what’s happening. Most seem to pick one or two words and call it a day. The direct answer to your direct question is a resounding no. I usually hate engaging in back and forth conversation in the comment section. You know where to find me if you want to have a direct chat about anything I say or do. I realize it’s less performative, but you’ll get the straight scoop from… Read more »
Thank you Alan. And you know where to find me, also.
Is it typical for copcam footage for a minor incident to be under seal, or just when it could make a sitting Councilman look bad?
Release the footage!
Unfortunately we have become a society of guilty till proven innocent. A lot of this is because of inadequate reporting and open social media platforms.
Release the footage!!
Larry, I believe this is what’s known as a retraction. I wish you had done more investigative exploring before publishing what was a very incendiary article. You should have contacted Mikey Comstock to get the facts before releasing this article. You owe both Councilmembers Horvath and Erickson an apology.
A public records request made from a private citizen showing the files are sealed. We asked the question what is ‘hiding’. If is possible that two things can be correct. It is quite plausible that Erickson called the sheriff and said ‘do you know who i am’, etc etc, and Mikey was not present with John Erickson outside with law enforcement at the same time as Mr.Erickson. In addition, the public has a right to know if a Council member is part of a criminal investigation as a witness or otherwise at the same time they are voting to funding… Read more »
Larry, shouldn’t Horvath get an apology, though? Your site continues to have an article that reads “What are Lindsey Horvath and John Erickson hiding?” For over three days. That is on the web, and is searchable, and can continue to propagate on the internet. Lindsey isn’t hiding anything, as she wasn’t even there. I don’t know, but this might be considered libelous.
With all due respect, I have spoken to Lindsey back and forth today and do not need your help. And in addition the tape exists and more than one person has seen it, as told to us after this article was printed.
Larry, all due respect to you, as well. I guess you do not need Andrew’s help either.
Mikey’s last name is Consbruck, by the way. I’ve been a patron of his business since the first weekend they opened, back in 2012 (I believe).
Thanks will update the spelling.
And I apologize for my comment about Horvath. That’s between the two of you. I should stay out of it.
The apology should be to Lindsey and all of your readers – and it should be as public as the allegations that were made. Correct the record, learn, and do better.
Apology for the tape that is sealed, or the public records request made by a private citizen?
Release the footage of the swamp creatures.
John Erickson is on body camera in multiple incidents “bullying” the sheriffs with his “do you know who i am”. I have heard from the sheriffs themselves. He has “ordered” them to arrest people for not wearing a mask during the pandemic, because they were gathering “recall newsome” signatures. Someone should FOIA that footage!
No one was arrested for not wearing a mask while gathering “recall newsom” signatures. Stop spreading lies.
I see in a comment below that he has spoken to Lindsey.