Police Called to Kid Rock's Nashville Bar for Assaults, Rash of Other Incidents

Patrons weren't the only visitors at Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock 'n' Roll Steakhouse on Nashville's Lower Broadway last month. In February 2024, officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department responded to several calls of incidents at the venue, ultimately making numerous arrests on charges including disorderly conduct, public intoxication, and assault.

The downtown Nashville hotspot, located on the corner of 3rd Avenue and Broadway, saw police pay a visit several times throughout the month, including several instances of officers responding to concerning reports. During the early hours of Feb. 2, per Scoop Nashville, security at the bar flagged officers down to assist with a man, identified as 36-year-old Karim Adhem, who allegedly put his hands up a woman's skirt. Another patron at the bar who witnessed the incident told officers he saw the concerning incident unfold after he heard a woman on the fourth floor telling someone to stop. The man intervened and held onto Adhem's wrist until officers arrived. Adhem, who was intoxicated at the time of the incident, was booked into the Metro Nashville Jail and charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication. A judicial commissioner set his bond at $1,000.

Later that month, police were back at the bar to respond to a physical altercation between 43-year-old Sarah Jane Geary and her sister, Rebecca Lynn Lawton. The altercation took place at around 8 p.m. on Feb. 8, with footage obtained from MNPD traffic cameras showing Geary pushing her sister when Lawton attempted to de-escalate a confrontation between Geary and another person. Geary was arrested and charged with domestic assault.

Just a few days later, on Feb. 16, Rosemont, Illinois resident Ryan Villanueva, 26, was charged with assault, assault of an officer, disorderly conduct, vandalism, and resisting arrest after he began to knock things from the bar and stage. When security stepped in to stop him, Villanueva allegedly became aggressive, grabbed a security guard by the arm, and ripped open the top of his shirt. He also kneed the guard in the side of the head. He resisted police officers who responded to the scene, kicking backward and hitting Officer Chetan Babbar's knee while being searched.

Throughout the month of February, officers also arrested a 44-year-old Washington tourist on charges of public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Other arrests were made on charges of resisting arrest, domestic assault, and criminal trespass.

Kid Rock's infamous hinky tonk opened in 2018 and cost an estimated $20 million. The five-floor venue is "Nashville's biggest and baddest new honky tonk," according to its website, and features five floors, four stages, and six bars.