DETROIT – A woman said a bouncer and manager at a Detroit bar got rough with her and her friends while they were out to celebrate a birthday, and she's got the photos and video to prove it.
The women were celebrating a birthday at Exodos in Detroit, but they said things got out of hand at the end of the night.
Exodos is a popular club in Greektown, and on Saturday night, Alecia Frankavilla was there with her girlfriends to celebrate her birthday.
The trouble started just before closing time. Frankavilla said her and her friend Kayli Pitylak, the group's designated driver, wanted to use the bathroom before heading home.
"As we were at the bathroom door, the lady was saying that we could use the bathroom," Frankavilla said. "Then the bathroom attendant said we couldn't, and men said that we couldn't, so they started pulling me."
According to Frankavilla, the men were the owner and several bouncers.
"I'm not sure how a man could ever be intimidated by her or even me," Pitylak said. "We weren't starting anything or anything. It just escalated way out of hand."
Frankavilla said it's worth noting that she's not a physically intimidating presence.
"I'm 5 foot and I weigh 105 pounds, so there wasn't much that I could do to kind of defend myself," Frankavilla said.
As the women were led down the stairs of the club to the exit, they said an ugly scene grew even more violent when a bouncer saw one of the women taking a cellphone video.
"The owner had Alecia in front of me, and he tries to throw her down the stairs," Pitylak said. "So I grab her before she can fall as a huge bouncer -- big huge guy -- comes behind us and starts pushing us down."
"He looked at my face, he spit in my face and then he bit my hand," Frankavilla said. "As I was going down the stairwell he started signing happy birthday. He even told me and my friend that he's the owner. He looked at us in the eyes and told us that he is the owner."
The women called police and filed a police report, but there's nothing currently moving on the legal front. Frankavilla retained an attorney for the possibility of a civil suit.
Exodos owner Yanni Dionisopoulos sent the following statement to Local 4 in response to the women's allegations:
"This past Saturday night, as our staff was closing and moving guests towards the exit, a group of individuals attempted to re-enter the premise. Our security team made efforts to prevent this, as it was after 2:30 a.m., which resulted in a brief verbal exchange between the guests and our staff. We are disappointed that an otherwise festive evening was tarnished by this late-night exchange, and apologize to our guests for their experience, which does not represent the values and policies of our family-owned business. We have investigated this event thoroughly and taken immediate action with staff to ensure our guests have the best and safest experience possible, every time they visit. We hope to move forward from this incident swiftly, so we can continue to be a place of enjoyment for locals and visitors to Detroit, as we have for the past 15 years. Thank you to the community and our guests for their continued support."
You can see the cellphone video below. WARNING: There may be explicit language in the background of the video.