BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) – Bartenders and servers are gaining new tools to keep people safe.
This comes on the heels of the death of LSU student Madison Brooks, who deputies say was allegedly raped before she died after leaving Reggie’s, a Tigerland bar.
“I feel like everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong in that particular situation. But we try to use those as kind of examples of different pinpoints what could have gone differently, what could we have done, who could have stopped it, who could have asked the correct questions,” said a spokesperson for SAFE Bar Akilah Iyare.
The event is being put on by SAFE Bar Network, a national nonprofit that partners with bars and venues to provide training on how to spot potentially harmful situations like harassment and sexual assault and stop them in their tracks. Iyare said their organization’s tools are essential.
“It’s very important especially in the alcohol community, college community, food, and beverage because we want to make sure that everyone knows different ways to spot and intervene in uncomfortable situations,” she says.
Roughly 1,000 bartenders and servers flocked to The House in Tigerland from all across Baton Rouge to get this training.