KansasCity | "I’m glad my clients can finally put this nightmare behind them,"
Hinrichs said. "The last few years have been really difficult. This
(settlement) has provided them some closure."
The suit named E.I.E. LLC, the
company doing business as Whiskey Tango, as a defendant. It also named
five men who worked there or continue to work there: Shawn Brown, the
owner of E.I.E.; Harley Jon Wayne Akin, a manager of security overseeing
the bouncers; Michael Anthony Malick, a bouncer; Cody Reese Atchley, a
bouncer; and Fredrick R. Failing, a bouncer.
Four of the men have pleaded guilty to criminal charges or face trial: Akin, Atchley, Malick and Failing. Brown was not charged.
The country bar, at 401 S. Outer
Road, hosts poker, beer pong and flip cup tournaments, according to its
website. It has a mechanical bull. Blake Shelton made an appearance there a few months before the women were wrongly imprisoned.
The website advertises the bar as the best nightclub in Kansas City and a top spot to meet people.
Around midnight on the night of the incident, the
sisters were at a restaurant in a different city when an unknown woman
bought a Bud Light with the counterfeit bill, the suit says.
About 90 minutes later, the sisters arrived at the bar with their cousins.
Around 3 a.m., shortly before the bar's closing time, a man
approached Mariel and accused her of using the fake bill. She adamantly
denied the accusation, the suit says.
As the sisters left, multiple
bouncers wearing skull or camouflage masks pursued them into the parking
lot and "restricted them from leaving," the suit and criminal records
say.
Back in the bar, Akin accused
Mariel of using the fake bill. Audrey grabbed Akin by the front of his
shirt and told her sister to run, according to criminal records.
Mariel fled, dashing into the woods toward a gas station about a half-mile away.
Security supervisors Justin Wilson and Akin told Atchley, Malick and Failing to "pursue her," the suit says.
