Eleven women file police reports alleging drinks spiked at bar

Eleven women have filed reports with the Birmingham Police Department, alleging their drinks were spiked at the Rose Room bar, 220 E. Merrill St.

Police urged women to come forward after several posts on social media alleged that someone was putting drugs in drinks at the bar.

Police Chief Mark Clemence said the women who filed reports alleged drugging incidents recently and going as far back as 2019.

“Since time has gone by, that does make our job more difficult,” he said.

He said the 11 reports were filed since the police asked last week for women who may have been affected to come forward.

Responding to social media claims that police knew about the alleged incidents and did nothing, Clemence said the department checked records going back to January 2016 and found no one had ever filed a police report.

“At no time was anyone told we couldn’t do anything. That’s not how we operate,” he said.

“I want everyone to understand we take all of these reports very seriously.” To protect the ongoing investigation, Clemence said he can’t reveal specific steps police are taking.

Several women have posted on social media about losing sensation in their arms and legs or blacking out after consuming as little as two drinks at the Rose Room. Some alleged that they experienced dizziness or vomiting for up to a week afterward.

The bar said in a Facebook post it had not received direct reports of the alleged drugging and has no indication the claims are true.

“We have been made aware through social media of an assertion that a guest of the Rose Room allegedly was assaulted on March 13, 2021,” the post said.

“Although we have not received any direct reports of anything like this ever happening at the Rose Room, we take these claims very seriously. There is nothing more important to us than the health and safety of our guests, and we condemn all forms of sexual harassment and assault.

“Rest assured, we have confirmed that the policies and procedures that we have in place for the safety and security of our guests were in place and were being followed. We have already interviewed all of our employees that were working on that date, and we have no indication that the claims being repeated through social media are true.

“We take precautions every night to ensure that what was alleged in the social media post does not happen:

“Bottles are opened at the table by our staff, in front of guests, to ensure the highest quality.

“We have a highlytrained, diverse staff whose primary focus is attending to our guests’ well-being; Our bartenders, servers, managers, and security also are trained both to ensure that patrons showing signs of intoxication are not served and are able to get safely home.

“As a small, minorityowned business in a competitive business community, our reputation is everything to us. We will take all actions necessary to respond, and we have already reached out to the person who posted the original message, but we have not yet received a response.”

A police report may be filed by calling 248-5301889.