Spring Break
Musician claims harassment at Zapatos Cantina
By: Hunter Sauls
Issue date: 6/29/06 Section: News
 Media Credit: Chris Hokanson Chris Hokanson - The Battalion Cars pass in front of Zapatos Cantina in the Northgate district of College Station Tuesday night. Zapatos, the only bar on Northgate with an open air music venue, has been the subject of recent noise complaints. |
College Station police officers searched a musician on suspicion of marijuana possession in front of his audience at Zapatos Cantina on Friday.
Fifty-four-year-old Neil Kulhanek, Class of 1977 and member of the band "Neil and the Real Deal," was taking a break during the performance to retrieve a plastic bag of guitar strings from his truck, which was parked behind the bar. As he made his way back on stage, he said three police officers stopped him and asked him stand spread eagle for a search.
"It was humiliating, but I emptied my pockets right there in front of everyone," Kulhanek said. "I let them do whatever they want, even though it was obvious to everyone that their accusations that I had drugs were absolutely false."
Kulhanek said he felt the police had harassed him.
"I wish that the officers had identified themselves so that I knew who had accused me of having drugs," Kulhanek said. "They were overly aggressive. I deal with police officers a lot and have many police officers as friends in my job as head of security for Brenham National Bank, and I've never even heard of them behaving like that."
Assistant Police Chief Larry Johnson from the College Station Police Department (CSPD) said he could not speak directly to the claims because he did not know the search had taken place, but that what they described was a typical search by police officers.
"If an officer saw something that he thought to be an illegal substance, then it is his job to conduct a search," Johnson said. "Probable cause is in the eyes of the officer who witnessed the justification for a search. I'm not aware of this incident, but it sounds as if the officer did what he was supposed to do."
Morgan Pyle, Zapatos' owner, said he suspects the search is related to tension between the bar and CSPD concerning noise complaints.
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