This sounds just about white. The co-owner of a Staten Island bar who continued to defy New York’s coronavirus restrictions was arrested early Sunday for the second time in less than a week after allegedly hitting a deputy with his car.
via: New York Post
The co-owner of Staten Island’s defiant “Autonomous Zone” bar allegedly broke both of a sheriff’s sergeant’s legs when he slammed into the law man while trying to avoid arrest for illegally operating his bar — driving with the officer on the hood of his car for 300 feet before another car crashed into him, sources told The Post.
The New York City Sheriff (NYCS) officer — identified by sources as 30-year-old sergeant Kenneth Matos — was one of two uniformed officers who tried to arrest Danny Presti late Saturday after seeing at least 30 customers being served at Mac’s Public House in violation of COVID-19 restrictions.
The officers “identified themselves and approached Mr. Presti and attempted to take him into custody for the multiple criminal offenses observed,” New York Sheriff Joseph Fucito said.
“Presti began to flee on foot towards his vehicle” and ignored orders to stop, Fucito said.
After jumping in his car, he threw it into gear and drove into one of the uniformed officers — throwing him onto the hood and driving off with him “clinging to the hood,” Fucito said.
Other deputy sheriffs raced to stop Presti’s car, with sources saying one crashed into his car to stop it — but only after the sheriff said it had already traveled 300 feet with the officer desperately clinging on.
After helping to arrest Presti, Matos was taken by ambulance to Staten Island University Hospital (North) complaining of “substantial pain” to his hips, knees, legs, lower back and neck, police sources said.
Exams later also proved that he had multiple fractured bones, including both tibias, sources said. He was discharged later Sunday.
Presti was held overnight while being investigated for felonious assault, sources said, but as of Sunday had yet to be charged.
“We’re still trying to determine the additional charges at this point in time,” Fucito told The Post.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s spokesman, Bill Neidhardt, said the arrest highlighted the bar owner’s “disgusting way of thinking.”
“Presti has been telling the world who he really is for days now, but last night’s incident made it crystal clear,” he tweeted.
Presti has been telling the world who he really is for days now, but last night’s incident made it crystal clear.
Whether it’s flouting public health laws or ramming a car into a deputy, this guy clearly has no regard for the lives of others.
That’s what it comes down to. https://t.co/l6cXfO4y0o
— Bill "worst comms guy in history" Neidhardt (@BNeidhardt) December 6, 2020
“Whether it’s flouting public health laws or ramming a car into a deputy, this guy clearly has no regard for the lives of others. That’s what it comes down to,” Neidhardt wrote.
Mac’s remained defiant Sunday — accusing the officers of hiding “like snakes in the grass” to yet again bust its outspoken co-owner.
“We will not back down! You have not scared us!! The world is watching and it’s time for everyone to wake up!” the bar wrote in a since-deleted Facebook update early Sunday.
Presti’s attorney, Mark Fonte, told The Post that he had three “snippets” of video that he claimed proved the officer was neither hit nor on the hood of his client’s car — videos he has so far refused to make public.
“From what I have seen, it doesn’t appear the way the sheriff is saying it happened,” Fonte insisted, calling on the sheriff’s office to release its own bodycam or dashcam footage to back up its claims.
So not was he breaking the law but opening this bar, he allegedly hits a sheriff with his car and is taken into custody with no issues.
