An upstate ice cream shop owner was a weaponized harasser of minorities who wrongly took his race-based hatred to police, says a lawsuit filed by New York attorney general Letitia James.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Schenectady Supreme Court, is the first brought by the AG's office under a law passed by the Legislature last year that allows the state to sue people motivated by racial or other bias who call police "without reason to suspect a violation of the penal law."
The law was passed after a Manhattan woman, Amy Cooper, called police on a Black man who complained her dog was off its leash in Central Park.
David Elmendorf, owner of Bumpy's Polar Freeze in Schenectady, brandished a .22 caliber air rifle against people protesting his alleged racism, says the lawsuit.
© GoogleBumpy's Polar Freeze in Schenectady NY.
Bumpy's Polar Freeze in Schenectady NY. (Google/)
Protesters gathered several times outside Bumpy's last June to oppose Elmendorf's alleged writing of a series of racist messages online.
Gallery: Images from the scene: Daniel Prude protest (USA TODAY)
At a protest around 4 a.m. June 30, Elmendorf harangued a group of peaceful protesters outside the restaurant, "calling them 'n****rs,' 'coons,' and 'monkeys,'" James' lawsuit says. "He threatened their lives, shouting, 'If you come over here I'm going to shoot you' and 'I'll kill all you f*****g n****rs.'"
Then, the suit says, Elmendorf called Schenectady cops and falsely reported that "there were '20 armed protestors who were threatening to shoot him,' and referred to the Black protestors as 'savages' hanging out in 'Section 8 housing.'"
"Five Schenectady police cars arrived at the scene and questioned the witnesses ... The police made no arrests," says the lawsuit.
Tensions kept up later that day, when Elmendorf "threatened a crowd of roughly fifty peaceful protestors with a .22-caliber air rifle," the lawsuit says.
Elmendorf has pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal menacing in the case, records show.
"My client categorically denies these awful allegations," his lawyer, James Mermigis, told the Associated Press.
"My client is not a racist and 75% of his employees over the last five years were minorities," said Mermigis, who said social media posts that led to the protests were never verified.
Bumpy's Polar Freeze is under new ownership, and has changed its name.
James' suit asks for a court order to bar Elmendorf from further harassing protesters, and for him to pay a $500 fine for each instance where he violated protesters' free speech rights.