Redondo Beach Bar May Have Its Liquor License Suspended : Regulation: Bar owner can appeal recommendation by Alcoholic Beverage Control Department.

Pancho & Wong’s, the Redondo Beach bar where a bouncer fatally injured a patron two months ago, will not lose its liquor license but will face a suspension, an Alcoholic Beverage Control official said Thursday.

Gilson Grey, administrator for the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department’s Inglewood district, would not say how long a suspension is recommended but noted that most suspensions range from a few days to “a couple of months.” The full recommendation will not become public until after it is formally filed next week with the Alcoholic Beverage Control main office in Sacramento, which regulates liquor licenses.

Grey said his office stopped short of calling for a permanent shutdown of the bar because “they’ve been there since 1980, and I don’t know if the particular circumstances would warrant it. You have an employee that does something, and maybe it’s a one-time thing.”

Eric Charles Meyer, 32, of Torrance, a 200-pound former door host at Pancho & Wong’s, pleaded no contest last month to voluntary manslaughter after a patron died of massive head injuries received after Meyer ejected him from the bar.

The customer, Michael Alvey, a 25-year-old Harbor City father of three, died three days after the Sept. 1 incident without regaining consciousness. Police said Meyer, attempting to break up an argument between Alvey and another patron, picked Alvey up by the neck and hurled him down a short flight of stairs onto a concrete patio.

Meyer, who had a previous conviction for robbery and had worked at the bar for nine months when the incident occurred, was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Alvey’s family has filed a wrongful death suit that is still pending against Meyer, Pancho & Wong’s and bar owner David Letchworth.

Letchworth said he and his business should not be held responsible for Alvey’s death. The bar owner has maintained that he knew nothing of Meyer’s criminal record, and did all he could to deter excessive force by employees, including making it a cause for immediate dismissal.

But he said he is not relieved that the Alcoholic Beverage Control Department decided against revoking his liquor license, and will decide whether to demand an administrative hearing when he sees the department’s filing and the length of suspension it recommends.

“I’m not relieved about anything that has happened,” Letchworth said. “It was a terrible thing that has affected my life and that continues to affect my life.”

Alvey’s family agreed with the decision to seek only a suspension.

“I have mixed feelings,” said Alvey’s mother, Patricia Alvey of Carson. “On one hand, (Letchworth) should have looked into the backgrounds of his employees. But on the other, I can’t really hold him responsible.”