In a statement, the owners and staff at Hartigan's said they did everything they could to help a dying woman who had been stabbed outside the uptown pub early Sunday.
Antoinette Baker, 30, was killed after being stabbed with a beer bottle in her neck and stomach, according to her family. Katie Robinson, 32, is in Mecklenburg jail, charged with murder in connection with the killing, which police say followed a fight between the women in the bathroom.
But Baker's brother has faulted the staff at Hartigan's, who he says prevented a first responder from rendering aid to his sister as she lay bleeding in an alcove.
"She would have at least had a chance," Juan Chambers said of his sister. "Imagine if she had pressure on her wounds. She would be alive today."
The statement from the pub gives the largest amount of detail about what employees and owners did on Sunday night.
One of the pub's owners had already called the police before the stabbing happened, according to the statement, and another was getting instructions from paramedics.
"In response to the statement made anonymously by a person claiming to be a first responder that a Hartigan’s owner kept her from rendering assistance, it simply is not true," the statement says. "Her assertions only serve to inflame what is already a tragic and painful event. We understand the investigation is continuing and we are cooperating in any way that we can."
The statement doesn't say that any Hartigan's employees rendered any direct aid to Baker as she lay dying.
A nurse told reporters she was outside the bar at the time. The woman said she rushed to Baker and tried to stop the bleeding, according to WCNC-TV. The woman asked not to be identified.
"I'm holding her, trying to put pressure on her wounds and stuff, and I'm snatched up by one of the owners of the bar. "I'm like, 'I'm a first-responder. She needs help, let me help her.' And she said, 'I'm the owner of the bar. Don't touch her. Police have been called.' "
The nurse could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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