By Megan Guza, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The Tribune Content Agency
Oakland's Panther Pit - an unlicensed bar authorities allege has been a hub of underage drinking, fights and code violations - must close for one year after an Allegheny County judge ruled the establishment has become a nuisance property.
Common Pleas Judge Daniel D. Regan signed the order Wednesday, less than week after authorities raided the Meyran Avenue bar for the fourth time in just over a year.
The judge had initially agreed on Friday to issue an emergency injunction that would stop the Panther Pit from operating, citing "immediate and irreparable harm" that would occur if the bar remained open.
Attorneys for two of the owners, Kenneth Plumb and Sivram Bandhu, could not immediately be reached for comment. Court records did not list an attorney for a third owner, Prasad Margabandhu.
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. applauded the ruling, saying the Panther Pit "has continually proven to be a threat and danger to our community, students and children."
Mr. Zappala wrote in his initial petition for the injunction that the bar and its patrons drew criminal activity to the area, including assaults, public drunkenness, underage drinking, theft and drug violations. He pointed to nearly 40 separate incidents in which police were called to the bar since January 2023.
Authorities in Allegheny County moved Friday to permanently shut down the Panther Pit after a judge ordered sheriff's deputies to close and padlock the unlicensed Oakland bar.(Allegheny County Sheriff's Office)
Court filings supporting the petition to shut down the Panther Pit included letters from police in the city, at the University of Pittsburgh and at Duquesne University.
The bar has been raided numerous times, including in mid-September when authorities seized more than 400 gallons of alcohol, according to Pennsylvania State police. At the same time, health and building inspectors also descended on the property, leading the county Health Department to order the bar closed for myriad health code violations.
Among them were spoiled, moldy chicken tenders, sewage backed up beneath a prep cooler, and "too many fruit flies to count," according to the inspection report.
Owners and managers fixed the public health issues, and the establishment reopened a month later on Oct. 18 - still without a liquor license, authorities said. When undercover officers went to the establishment on Halloween night, they noted a sign outside advertising "$20 dance party, open bar, we don't sell alcohol, feel free to tip bartender."
The bar was also raided in December 2023 and September 2023.
Owners have said in the past that they do not sell alcohol; rather, a cover charge includes drinks. But in a 2023 criminal complaint filed by liquor control enforcement agents, undercover officers noted that they were told more than once that if they paid the $20 cover, they could "drink and dance all night."