Caught on Video: Punta Gorda city manager gets kicked out of bar

A city leader was thrown out of a bar and is claiming that it was a medical episode instead of a drunken instance.

Punta Gorda City Manager Greg Murray is accused of being drunk at a bar named Shorty’s Place, Friday night, right before Tropical Storm Debby would bring massive flooding to the city.

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At first glance, Punta Gorda city manager Greg Murray appears intoxicated in the body camera footage from Friday evening. That’s what a report says Punta Gorda police initially thought when they were called to Shorty’s Place.

A staff member told officers Murray was causing a disturbance.

Murray told police the conflict arose because the staff wouldn’t let his service dog inside the bar.

According to the report, they became worried when Murray couldn’t answer basic questions, like what year it was or the name of the president.​

They, along with Fire and EMS, decided to take him to the hospital.

When we spoke on the phone with Murray, he said he had a medical episode brought on by new blood sugar medication.

“I understand how it looked, and I certainly apologize for that, but that is not the case,” he said.

Murray said he was at the bar about an hour before his disorientation and didn’t drink enough to be as confused as police say he was.

“I was in the middle of a medical episode, and I’m glad that got taken care of, and I appreciate the ones that were there to help,” he said.

Murray told WINK News he was released from the hospital Saturday and was back ​at work Saturday afternoon in time to help with storm prep.

Punta Gorda police said he will not face any charges from the incident.