Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday tore the Staten Island bar owner accused of ramming a sheriff’s sergeant with his Jeep in a running dispute over his joint’s coronavirus closure defiance, as well as the drink-slinger’s supporters.
“You don’t attack a law enforcement officer who is doing his or her job,” thundered Cuomo in a press briefing at his Midtown Manhattan office.
“No, it’s repugnant to the values of any New Yorker,” he said. “You never assault any police officer.”
Danny Presti, co-owner of Mac’s Public House, fled the Grant City pub shortly after midnight Sunday when authorities from the New York City Sheriff’s Office arrived to arrest him for serving customers in violation of state coronavirus regulations.
In his flight, Presti — who, along with co-owner Keith McAlarney, has declared the watering hole an “autonomous zone” beyond government authority — allegedly drove his new Jeep into Sheriff’s Sgt. Kenneth Matos, carrying the lawman on his hood for some 300 feet and breaking both his legs, authorities have said.
“When you have someone who drives their car into someone, could’ve killed him … how dare you?” railed Cuomo. “Tough guy drives his car into a police officer. No, it’s disgusting and [he’s] a coward.”
Cuomo also took aim at Presti’s supporters, who have lionized him as something of a small-business champion taking a stand against state and city overreach.
“What kind of signal are you sending when you glamorize that type of behavior?” he asked.
“They are defending a person who drove … [100] yards with a law enforcement officer clinging to the hood for his life,” he added. “That’s who they’re championing? Someone who attacked a law enforcement officer.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Cuomo let loose shortly after Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed the “extraordinarily disturbing” alleged acts of Presti, 43, who was released Sunday on his own recognizance despite being hit with 10 charges, among them a bail-eligible third-degree assault rap.
The governor additionally panned those Staten Island pols who have shrugged off his coronavirus mandates, even as cases of the deadly disease skyrocket in the borough.
“Congratulations, you went from the lowest death rate in the city of New York to the highest death rate in the state of New York,” he said. “You gave great advice to your people, more of them died.”
