NC board: Private security firm in Charlotte bar scuffle with woman had no license

A bouncer partially caught on video during an altercation with a transgender woman at a NoDa restaurant was not certified to do security work — and his company didn’t have a license to operate as a security company.

Gridiron Protection Services, hired by Billy Jack’s Shack, has no record on file showing it ever applied for a license to do security work in North Carolina, according to the state’s Private Protective Services Board in Raleigh.

While that’s illegal, it’s a common and sometimes a dangerous problem with private security, making it a threat to public safety, Private Protective Services Director Paul Sherwin told The Charlotte Observer Tuesday.

Lynette Matusik says she was the victim of a hate crime the night she visited the popular eatery on North Davidson Street.

What was supposed to a night of revelry and conversation turned into a scuffle with a bouncer who used slurs against her, she said. Matsuik ended up with a black eye, while the bouncer told police she bit him in the thigh.

Matusik captured the physical altercation on her Meta Smart Glasses and shared the video with news media, including The Observer and WCNC, which first reported the story on Sunday.

“They’re not security, and I’m not going to use that word,” Matusik said.

Billy Jack’s Director of Operations Scott Krezmer confirmed that it used Gridiron as a security company. He declined to speak on what happened that night, citing an ongoing investigation.

In a statement posted to social media Sunday, Billy Jack’s said that the incident “contradicts the very thing” that the restaurant stands for.

The restaurant has cut ties with its third-party security company, the statement said.

Gridiron, based in Charlotte, did not respond to phone calls and emails from The Observer seeking comment.

The state’s Private Protective Services Board also said it will conduct an investigation into Gridiron.

A Night in NoDa

Matusik went out for a casual night in NoDa on Friday, dropping into a few bars early into Saturday, she told The Observer.

Her night out turned sour when she got to Billy Jack’s Shack.

A video that Matusik captured using her Meta Smart Glasses showed her sitting at the bar when a bouncer approached.

“Whoa, hey, get your hands off me,” she said in the video.

He removed her from the bar, and the two appeared to move to the ground. She told him she was recording.

“I don’t care,” the bouncer responded in the video.

Matusik asked: “Why are you choking me?”

“I asked you for your ID,” the bouncer was heard saying before telling Matusik to leave.

Matusik told The Observer that she never heard him ask for identification until that moment.

The bouncer told Charlotte-Mecklenburg police that Matusik bit him on the thigh, according to an incident report.

It’s a claim she called “ridiculous.” Police charged her with simple assault. No other person had been charged as of Tuesday.

Pictures of Matusik after the altercation show her with a black eye and bruising.

The case ought to be investigated as a hate crime, she said.

Matusik shared her video hoping “that shedding light on this incident will spur a broader discussion on the safety and security measures,” she wrote in an email.

What security licensing means

Not having a license to do security work means Gridiron’s employees never went through a state-sanctioned criminal background check or formal training, Sherwin said.

The bouncer named in a CMPD incident report also had no registration, according to the Private Protective Services Board.

Training to be a security guard isn’t as intensive as police training. Even then, companies often dodge the training or don’t realize there’s a legal process, Sherwin said.

Unarmed guards are supposed to go through a 16-hour course that covers fundamentals. That could include a security guard’s duties and responsibilities, what authority they have as guards and how to communicate with the public.

Armed guards take that and another 20-hour course that dives deeper into use of force, the law and weapons handling.

As police departments are stretched thin, businesses increasingly rely on private security, Sherwin added.

Since October 2021, the board says it has investigated 74 North Carolina security companies for being unlicensed. There were six investigations in Charlotte.

“Some of them are these fly-by-night companies that either intentionally ignore their requirements to comply with the law, or they’re unaware of it,” Sherwin said. “Either way, they’re not doing the right thing.”