BUCKTOWN — A troubled nightclub which critics have been trying to shut down for years has seen more than 100 crimes committed at or in the immediate area around the business since 2001, a DNAinfo Chicago analysis has found.
Dolphin, 2200 N. Ashland Ave., closed last month when two men were gunned down on the sidewalk in front of it and a third was injured.
The DNAinfo Chicago analysis of Chicago Police crime data found 23 reported cases of aggravated battery, 147 simple batteries and two sexual assaults in or around Dolphin since 2001, which was formerly known as Green Dolphin Street.
Eighteen of the aggravated batteries included a weapon, three involved a knife or cutting devise, one involved a handgun and one involved serious injury to a police officer in March 2013, according to city crime records.
(DNAinfo/Paul Biasco)
The data includes crimes that occurred on the 1600 block of West Webster Avenue and the 2200 block of North Ashland Street.
Dolphin sits on the northeast corner of the intersection and is the only business on either of the blocks. For years, it was called Green Dolphin Street and featured jazz and blues music and a restaurant, but closed before later remodeling and reopening as Dolphin in 2013 and focusing on global house music.
The city and club owner Sam Menetti — who is listed as the owner in news accounts from as far back as 2000 — are currently facing a lawsuit from the family representing the 11-year-old daughter of Deonta Jackson, who was killed outside the club in March.
The lawsuit claims the city was negligent and should have shut the club down.
It also cites Ald. Scott Waguespack's (32nd) repeated requests to shut the club down.
The lawsuit is seeking more than $250,000 in damages for Jackson's daughter, who lives with her mother in Kentucky.
Menetti could not be reached for comment.
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