Bouncer David Cruz says Holbrook bar patron Jake Scott 'will never run his mouth again' in video played at his manslaughter trial
Bouncer David Cruz, right, walks with his defense attorney, Glenn Obedin, in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Tuesday. Credit: James Carbone
A bouncer at a Holbrook bar said a patron will “never run his mouth again” after he struck him in a deadly altercation captured through surveillance footage played at his trial in Riverhead Tuesday.
David Cruz, 32, was charged with first-degree manslaughter following the death of Jake Scott, 32, of Centereach, 10 days after the two were involved in the scuffle outside Tailgaters Sports Bar in the early morning hours Aug. 21.
“I bet he’ll never talk [expletive] again,” Cruz said as he walked past Scott’s motionless body. “I bet he’ll never run his mouth again.”
Scott could be heard groaning in pain following the beating, which was recorded by a security camera outside a neighboring smoke shop.
WHAT TO KNOW
- Jurors in David Cruz's manslaughter trial saw surveillance video of the defendant hitting a patron in a Holbook bar with a series of blows to the man's face before picking him up and dropping him on a concrete sidewalk.
- Cruz, 32, was charged with first-degree manslaughter following the death of Jake Scott, 32, of Centereach, days after the two were involved in the scuffle outside Tailgaters Sports Bar in the early morning hours Aug. 21.
- In the recording, Scott could be heard groaning in pain following the beating recorded by a security camera outside a neighboring smoke shop.
“Get up, stupid,” Cruz yelled to the stunned Scott.
The jury watched footage of most of the 25 minutes from when Scott walked out of the bar to smoke a cigarette at 2:50 a.m. — Cruz hurrying behind him — to the moment he walked to an ambulance on his way to Stony Brook University Hospital, where prosecutors said doctors performed emergency surgery on his fractured skull that morning.
The two first crossed paths earlier that evening when Cruz broke up a fight Scott had with two other patrons. Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Creighton said in opening arguments before State Supreme Court Justice John Collins that it "didn't sit well with Cruz" when Scott called him a "weirdo" for touching him. Scott left with his girlfriend shortly before 11 p.m., but returned about 2 a.m. and had a drink at the bar.
Cruz followed him outside at 2:51 a.m. and the two immediately began arguing again, the security footage showed.
The recording, which included a moment five minutes later when Cruz covered up the security camera directly outside the bar with his shirt just before he lunged for Scott, was played as the jury heard testimony from two other bar patrons who witnessed the scuffle.
“[Cruz] grabbed [Scott] by the collar and pulled him up as if [Scott] was doing a sit-up,” said Michael Hanus of Holbrook, who was standing several feet away when Cruz punched a seated Scott, knocking him to the ground before climbing on top of him. “He smashed the back of his head into the concrete.”
Fellow patron Daniella Marcos told the jury she heard the commotion from inside the bar and ran outside to help.
“I pretty much wanted to get out of there because it was traumatizing,” Marcos told the jury of seeing Scott on the ground after the melee.
As the footage was played, Scott’s mother, Deborah Scott, left the courtroom in tears. She did not return for the remainder of Tuesday’s testimony.
The smoke shop camera also showed Cruz take his shirt off the bar camera and leave the scene before police arrived 10 minutes later.
“I’m out of here,” Cruz yelled to a woman witnesses said had met him at the bar earlier in the evening. He drove away alone.
The footage also showed Cruz attempting to lure Scott into a fight in an area of the shopping center not being recorded. Scott shouted back to have the fight in front of the bar, an area being captured by both cameras at the time.
"I’m right here,” Scott yelled. “Be about it, don’t talk about it,” he later told Cruz.
Seated in the courtroom alongside defense attorney Glenn Obedin, Cruz shook his head as he watched the moments before the altercation turned physical.
About seven minutes after being struck by Cruz, Scott stood up and was eventually guided to a chair by a bar employee, the footage showed. Hanus testified that Scott “sounded like someone with dementia or a stroke victim” when he spoke with first responders.
A Tailgaters bartender who was working the door when the initial altercation began between Scott and two other patrons, spoke of Cruz’s demeanor after he stopped the incident outside the bar.
Chelsea Huntington recalled hearing Cruz and Scott “screaming that they would fight each other, [expletive] each other up.”
Huntington said Cruz needed to be calmed down after Scott left with his girlfriend.
“He said his job as a security guard isn’t that important,” Huntington said, explaining that Cruz also worked a day job.
Huntington said she explained to him that his job was to keep the bar patrons and staff safe.
On cross examination, Obedin asked Huntington if she thought Cruz was doing his job when he separated Scott and the other man.
“He did create more space,” she said.
“Without having to get physical?” Obedin responded.
“Yes,” Huntington said.
“So David did what he was supposed to do in that situation, correct?” Obedin asked.
“Correct,” she said.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
Watch live: Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech from Howard University, her alma mater.
Watch live: Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech from Howard University, her alma mater.
