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"Autonomous Zone" Bar Owner Allegedly Drove Into Sheriff's Deputy While Evading Arrest. DA Doesn’t Seek Bail.
By
George Joseph
Published Dec 8, 2020
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By
George Joseph
Published Dec 8, 2020
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Daniel Presti, the Staten Island bar owner who openly flouted the state’s COVID-19 safety rules, was arrested over the weekend after allegedly striking a deputy sheriff with his car outside the establishment, Mac's Public House.
Presti faced numerous charges at his arraignment on Sunday, including felony second degree assault causing physical injury to an officer, menacing, reckless driving and endangerment, fleeing an officer, and resisting arrest. The felony charge is bail eligible, but the Staten Island District Attorney consented to Presti’s release without asking for bail, according to a transcript of the proceedings.
In an email, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon did not respond to questions about why it chose not to ask for bail for a felony charge of assaulting a law enforcement officer.
“My office takes any violence against law enforcement officers very seriously and we are carefully reviewing all facts and evidence related to this matter to ensure justice is served,” McMahon said. “As this case remains under investigation, there is no further comment at this time.”
McMahon has been deeply critical of the state’s bail reform law, which was passed in 2019, eliminating cash bail for numerous misdemeanor and some felony charges. McMahon claimed the legislature was “reaching the point of the absurd when those who are accused of serious offenses are free to roam the streets,” and argued that the reform advocates who pushed for it “appear to have their heads in the sand.”
In a statement, the Legal Aid Society said the DA’s decision shows a “disparate legal system that benefits white New Yorkers with means over Black and brown New Yorkers.”
"While Mr. Presti, a white man who stands accused of assaulting a police officer with his motor vehicle, is at home with his family, able to continue operating his business and has unfettered access to his defense lawyers, thousands of equally presumed innocent Staten Islanders are sent to Rikers per year on far less serious charges,” said Marie Ndiaye, supervising attorney of the Decarceration Project at The Legal Aid Society. “Those less fortunate than Mr. Presti are the overwhelmingly Black and brown clients of Legal Aid Society.”
In a text message, Mark Fonte, one of Presti’s attorneys, disputed the argument about racially disparate treatment.
“His bail conditions have everything to do with the weakness of the case and nothing to do with race,” he said. Fonte also asserted that the injuries could not be confirmed and that the sheriff's deputies failed to identify themselves while attempting to arrest Presti, who he said was running “for his life.”
“This District Attorney’s Office would never, ever, make decisions based upon race. That criticism of the District Attorney is exceedingly unfair and wrong,” Fonte continued.
In an email to Gothamist, New York City Sheriff Joe Fucito says the deputies did identify themselves, and claims that the injured deputy suffered multiple bone fractures.
Presti had declared his pub an “autonomous zone,” and allowed numerous patrons into his establishment without masks on Saturday night, in violation of numerous restrictions intended to slow the spread of COVID-19, according to the Sheriff's Office. After landing inside one of Governor Andrew Cuomo's COVID orange zones, where indoor dining is prohibited, Presti declared on social media that the pub would continue to operate, and continued to welcome customers even after the State Liquor Authority suspended their liquor license at the end of November. Staten Island currently has the city's highest COVID-19 case rate by far, at 57 cases per 100,000, double the Bronx, according to city data.
When sheriff's deputies attempted to arrest him in the early hours on Sunday as he was leaving his establishment, Presti allegedly hopped into his car and drove off. According to Sheriff Fucito, in the process, he hit one deputy who hung onto the hood of the car Presti continued to drive for over a 100 yards until authorities finally stopped him.
Congresswoman-elect Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican who has publicly supported Presti’s defiance, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Malliotakis ran a successful campaign over incumbent Democrat Max Rose to represent the 11th congressional district, which includes Staten Island and Bay Ridge. In her campaign, Malliotakis called for an end to “the war on police,” and also attacked New York’s “radical new bail ‘reform’ law.”
Presti’s next hearing is scheduled for January 11th.
Tagged
COVID-19
pandemic
staten island
George Joseph
George covers Brooklyn for THE CITY with a focus on criminal justice and housing. He previously worked for WNYC and Gothamist, and has published stories with NPR, ProPublica, Esquire, and The Intercept among other outlets.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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