This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated December 11, 2020
The situation at Mac’s, the Staten Island pub that has drawn attention to itself for defying public health restrictions on indoor dining in COVID orange zones, escalated this past week. Pandemic health concerns, as well as the economic impacts they have had on the food service industry, are a serious matter, but the Mac’s story began with the owner’s silly declaration that their bar was an “autonomous zone.” That spiraled out of control when the bar’s co-owner struck a sheriff’s deputy with his car.
In 2015 in Brooklyn, a 15-year-old African American boy in a vehicle dragged and injured a cop. He was charged with attempted murder. Danny Presti, the white co-owner of Mac’s, fled from deputies the morning of Sunday, November 6, driving into a deputy who clung to the hood of his car, sending the man to the hospital. Presti was arraigned on ten charges, mostly misdemeanors, and released without bail on his own recognizance.
“… many who derided this year’s protests that began in response to George Floyd’s public execution by a police officer as hateful riots, have now been protesting law enforcement, themselves, over a cause they claim is of utmost importance.”
The circumstance of the two incidents are not identical. The 2015 crime was committed by someone with a long rap sheet and the officer he struck was left in a wheelchair. This past week’s crime began when deputies attempted to arrest Presti and the deputy’s injuries were limited to broken bones. However, in both cases, a suspect attempting to flee from law enforcement, accelerated while a man in uniform clung to the hood of their car until he was thrown from the vehicle. The incident on Staten Island could have ended in tragedy.
The immediate reaction to the 2015 incident from PBA President Pat Lynch was, “we will do everything in our power to ensure that this dirtbag never has the opportunity to harm another NYC police officer or citizen again.” The PBA is not the union that represents members of the city’s Sheriff’s Office, but the lack of outrage from self-proclaimed “Back The Blue” supporters over this week’s attack that could have killed a member of law enforcement, has been glaring.
To be clear, both incidents I reference were reprehensible. It is astounding that many who derided this year’s protests that began in response to George Floyd’s public execution by a police officer as hateful riots, have now been protesting law enforcement, themselves, over a cause they claim is of utmost importance. Public health restrictions on restaurants and bars have negatively impacted those businesses, but fighting for the freedom to dine indoors around dozens of strangers without masks during a pandemic is not on an equal footing with fighting against racial injustice.
Much of the response from people who supported last week’s demonstrations for Mac’s, are that they are now okay with attacking law enforcement, verbally and physically, over this disagreement over indoor dining. It is impossible to know what was in Danny Presti’s mind when he ran his car into a sheriff’s deputy, but it is reasonable to wonder if all the support the pub has received for brazenly breaking the law emboldened him.
In addition to the crowds of people who have protested outside of Mac’s, multiple political figures have weighed in. State Assembly and City Council members vociferously supported the escalating events. The state senator for the area provided legal assistance to the owners. A city council candidate from Brooklyn shared videos from the protests where he backed the owners’ right to serve as many customers indoors as they like, while berating officers to their faces, telling them to “go home and beat your wives and kids.” Few of these figures have said anything about Danny Presti’s violent attack on a deputy.
Several Bay Ridge restaurant owners had been sharing messages supporting the owners of Mac’s. One establishment disengaged from participating in the protests after Presti’s arrest and another local restaurateur removed a post that had labeled the Mac’s owners as “heroes,” but neither withdrew support for them.
We all agree that pandemic restrictions have really hurt this industry and we may not all agree on exactly where the lines should be when trying to balance public health and local businesses’ ability to operate, but we should be able to agree that encouraging lawlessness because one disagrees with a particular law, only leads to dangerous outcomes.
