Movers Confiscate, Return Embattled Bar’s Property

Movers were seen carrying tables and chairs out of The Three Legged Monkey about noon Friday. A short while later, though, everything was carried back in.

An El Paso sheriff’s official on the scene said the popular east-side bar found itself on the losing end of litigation and was forced to pay $55,600.

According to the El Paso District Clerk’s Office, the ruling was the result of a civil lawsuit filed by a former consultant who had entered in an agreement with the business.

Court documents showed a judgement dated July 7.

ABC-7 cameras captured movers hauling property, including sports memorabilia out of The Three Legged Monkey and into large, yellow moving vans parked out front.

Then, suddenly, the moving stopped.

When asked what had happened, the sheriff’s spokesman said bar owner Mike Armstrong was on his way to pay the money owed.

Armstrong arrived shortly after, and deputies allowed everything that had been confiscated to be returned to the business.

The Three Legged Monkey was the scene of a deadly shooting in February. Armstrong has maintained that law enforcement and city officials have unfairly targeted the establishment in an effort to shut it down.

“No matter what obstacle the city or any entity throws at my business, I will overcome it,” Armstrong said Friday in a statement.

On Tuesday, El Paso’s city council voted in favor of a resolution discouraging the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission from granting a liquor license to a new club attempting to open in the same shopping center, Hawkins Plaza.