NYC ‘Autonomous Zone’ Bar Owner Ran Over Deputy with Car after Flouting COVID Restrictions, Sheriff Says

The co-owner of a New York City bar that had declared itself an “autonomous zone” to defy coronavirus restrictions was taken into custody on Sunday after running over a deputy with a car, authorities said.

Deputies were arresting Danny Presti, 34, for serving customers in violation of city and state closure orders at Mac’s Public House when he tried to drive away from the bar, striking a deputy and driving for about 100 yards as the deputy hung on to the hood, Sheriff Joseph Fucito told the Associated Press. 

Presti was stopped and apprehended, according to the sheriff, and arraigned  in Staten Island’s 122nd Precinct on 10 charges including third-degree assault, reckless driving, menacing, and resisting arrest. 

The injured deputy was transported to a hospital for treatment, though his condition wasn’t immediately available, according to the Associated Press.

The bar is located in Staten Island in an area that has been designated an “orange zone” by Governor Andrew Cuomo in an attempt to slow down surging coronavirus transmission. Serving customers indoors is prohibited by the restrictions, but the owners named the bar an “autonomous zone,” a nod to protesters who claimed control over a Seattle neighborhood in June.

The sheriff’s office then arrested Presti for allegedly violating the restrictions and obstructing governmental administration, leading to protests at the bar last week.

Bill Neidhart, a spokesperson for Mayor Bill de Blasio, criticized Presti’s behavior as showing a disregard for human life.

“In both of these instances, whether it’s flouting public health laws or ramming a car into a uniformed deputy, this individual has endangered the lives of others,” said the spokesperson, Bill Neidhardt.

According to authorities, the bar was serving customers on Saturday night even after being ordered to close in the wake of Presti’s earlier arrest. While the front door to the bar was locked, patrons were being sent to a building next door, according to the sheriff, where they were able to enter the bar via a back door and order food and drinks.

Presti’s business partner Keith McAlarney told Fox News’s Tucker Carlson last week that they needed to open to stay afloat financially.

“They spent $150,000 to [first] open the place, and they opened two months before COVID. Two young guys with five children between them,” Presti’s attorney Lou Gelormino told National Review last week. The pair spent an additional $25,000 to reopen over the summer according to new social distancing requirements.

While the bar falls within the boundary of the orange zone, it sits almost on the border, another reason Presti and McAlarney chose to remain open.

Cuomo “decided, in all his wisdom, to make half of Staten Island an orange zone, meaning that a block and a half away from Mac’s Public House you can sit down and eat, and in Mac’s Public House you can’t,” Gelormino said.