New Sapolo Under Investigation for Serving Minors
A Myrtle Avenue restaurant linked to the shooting death of a 23-year-old Bronx man last month has been under investigation since May for serving alcohol to minors, Deputy Inspector Scott Henderson said last night at the 88th Precinct Community Council meeting.
Since the investigation started, the police have cited New Sapolo Restaurant two times in May for serving alcohol without checking identification. Triggered by repeated complaints, the police launched an undercover operation and sent in officers posing as underage drinkers. The police have reported the incidents to the New York State Liquor Authority. Four substantiated incidents, meaning that the police have investigated and found that the restaurant was not checking proof of age, will prompt an investigation by the SLA, said Henderson.
New Sapolo has been linked to the shooting death of bystander Antonio Wilson, 23, on May 31, and neighbors have said that they have seen the restaurant allegedly serving to minors and selling alcohol in to-go cups. David Wong, a bartender from the restaurant, said last week that the shooter had been in the restaurant prior to the shooting, but Henderson could not confirm that.
An off-duty federal parks officer had been at the scene and had fired his gun in an attempt to stop the shooter, Henderson told The Nabe. Thirty rounds from two guns, a 9 mm and .380, were recovered at the scene.
While the police are still searching for the shooter, Henderson said that he is not believed to be a neighborhood resident. Working from area surveillance cameras, the police “have an idea” whom the shooter was aiming at, though they have not yet tracked him down. The police still do not know what triggered the shooting outside New Sapolo, which followed a heated argument between two men.
An undercover cop visited New Sapolo most recently on June 7, but was refused alcohol, said Henderson. “That location knows they are being watched. Right now they are on their best behavior,” he said. The police have not yet been able to confirm allegations that New Sapolo sells alcoholic drinks from a side-door, Henderson said.
Henderson told residents to keep reporting incidents to the police, 311 and the SLA, adding that another local bar, Club Touché, will lose its liquor license at the end of August after an SLA investigation.
Residents at the meeting expressed concern about the recent proliferation of bars and restaurants along Myrtle Avenue.
“I have never seen so many bars on Myrtle Avenue,” said Sheila Brone, a Clinton Avenue resident. “All of a sudden you have new people are coming in and that’s what they want to do, they want to drink.”
Community Board 2 member John Harrison and District Manager Robert Perris said concerned residents should attend committee meetings on the first Wednesday of the month when they review new applications for liquor licences.
“If you do not come to these meetings,” Harrison said, “If we don’t hear opposition, then we don’t have it in the public record that there is opposition.”
Updates on neighborhood robberies were also covered in the meeting:
Police are looking for a man they say is responsible for a five burglaries that occurred over a week in a three-block radius. The man, who is described as older and wearing a cast on one foot, left behind a cane at one scene on May 24, at Saint James Place between Lafayette and Greene Avenues. The police have recovered DNA evidence from the cane.- There has been a rise in thefts of Toshiba laptops from Verizon trucks parked along Myrtle Avenue.
- Police are also still looking for those responsible for a spate of recent robberies on the B38 bus. There were ten robberies of wallets between March and May, all from women. The last incident was on May 12. The police have increased uniformed and plain-clothes presence on the bus.
- The 88th Precinct will be getting 20 new surveillance cameras to supplement the five existing cameras. The police are still deciding where to install the cameras, which will be rolled out over the next three years.