The Plymouth Select Board this week spent an hour debating whether the owners of Proof 22 should be punished for letting an intoxicated man enter the downtown bar and restaurant.
In the end, the board — which serves as the town’s licensing authority — voted 3-2 against doing anything, concluding the alleged infraction didn’t warrant board action since the customer was escorted out of the bar shortly after he arrived.
What the board didn’t discuss during the lengthy hearing was a much more serious charge lodged against Proof 22 by state alcohol regulators. Members said Thursday they were unaware of the allegation.
The state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission says that in October bartenders served drinks to an underage Plymouth man who was killed in a single-car accident shortly after leaving the Main Street establishment.
Benjamin Ruley, 20, of Plymouth, died less than 30 minutes after leaving Proof 22, where he had been socializing for almost four hours, according to investigators.
Ruley, a highway construction worker and graduate of Plymouth South High School, was killed at around 12:23 a.m. on Oct. 20 after crashing his white Mercedes into the woods off the northbound side of Route 3 in Kingston.
Investigators recovered a bar receipt from the evening before the crash. It listed 18 alcoholic drinks, totaling $222.56. The report doesn’t say how many of the drinks were consumed by Ruley — he was with two females when he arrived at 8 p.m., according to the investigators’ report.
They also recovered a fraudulent New Jersey driver’s license that gave his age as 22.
ABCC investigators interviewed bartenders who said they didn’t check Ruley’s ID because they had seen him in the bar before.
The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission has scheduled a hearing on the case for April 1.
On the same day, the board will hold another hearing — on a second violation the ABCC says it found at Proof 22 late last year.
On Dec. 19, investigators visiting the bar saw a customer who was staggering and disoriented being served a rum and coke.
The bartender told ABCC investigators she served him because she knew he was getting a sober ride home. She also said she underpoured the drink “due to him showing signs of intoxication.”
Select Board members said they were unaware of the pending ABCC charges against the bar, though at least some of them were informed of the April 1 hearings.
Police Chief Dana Flynn, who spoke at the board meeting, told them that there was an ABCC investigation related to “violations” at Proof 22, but that he “couldn’t talk about it.” It appears that those violations were separate from the ones alleged in late 2024.
Town Manager Derek Brindisi said later that the board didn’t discuss the ABCC allegations Tuesday because the state agency has already scheduled hearings, which are published on the ABCC’s public hearings calendar.
“As such, the town would not have an additional hearing on matters already pending with the ABCC as the ABCC has jurisdiction over the events giving rise to the scheduled hearings,” Brindisi wrote in an email.
On Thursday, board chair Dick Quintal said he would have pressed for punitive action against the bar had he known about the prior alleged incidents.
At the Tuesday meeting, Quintal and vice chair Kevin Canty proposed disciplining the bar, based on the Jan. 24 incident alone. The proposal failed by a 3-to-2 vote, with board member Charlie Bletzer being especially vocal in his opposition to any punishment.
The Jan. 24 incident involved Evan Sherman, a 23-year- old Plymouth man who was allowed into the bar even though he appeared to be intoxicated. After being escorted from the bar within minutes, Sherman allegedly punched out a window of a nearby building.
He was charged with disorderly conduct and vandalizing property.
Canty and Quintal wanted to essentially put the bar on probation for six months by suspending the bar’s license for three days but not imposing the suspension unless there was another incident within six months. In the meantime, the bar would be required to submit an updated security plan within 14 days.
Quintal said he was concerned that Sherman or someone else in a similar situation could just “get in his car and drive down Route 3 and hit somebody.”
Quintal said Thursday that though he didn’t know about the October incident when he proposed the punishment, he had a “gut feeling” there was more to come.
“When I was 18, I lost my best friend to a drunk driver. I took it very hard. I said to [Bletzer], ‘You have three daughters, how would you feel if that kid got into a car?’”
Quintal said had he been aware of the other alleged violations, he “wouldn’t have gone that easy.” Referring to the October crash that took Ruley’s life, he added, “This is exactly what I was talking about.”
David Golden, one of the three Select Board members who voted against the measure proposed by Canty and Quintal, said the alleged infraction on Jan. 24 didn’t seem to warrant the punishment, calling it “heavy-handed” and an “overcorrection.”
Bletzer, who originally called for the hearing, said Proof 22 did nothing wrong, noting that security quickly removed Sherman from the premises. “I don’t see a violation,” he said. “If they come before us again, they’ve been warned.”
Steven Triffletti, a lawyer who represents the bar – and is also the town moderator – declined to respond to the ABCC allegations, but said his client cooperates with town and state regulators.
“They follow and adhere to all local and state laws and requirements with respect to serving alcohol,” Triffletti said, adding that the bar gives its staff “extensive training” and has “state of the art equipment” to ensure they comply with all applicable rules and regulations.
Last year, ABCC investigators found an alleged liquor violation at another downtown bar — Main Street Sports Bar & Grill.
They reported that during a surprise visit last March, investigators witnessed a customer who appeared drunk being served a vodka seltzer and a shot of liquor.
The ABCC board held a hearing on the matter in June but hasn’t yet issued a decision.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.