Bouncer David Cruz's manslaughter trial in bar killing begins with opening statements in Riverhead
David Cruz arrives for his manslaughter trial at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Monday. Credit: James Carbone
A bouncer at a Holbrook bar took off his security shirt and used it to cover up a surveillance camera in the moments before he beat a patron and caused his death, a Suffolk County prosecutor told the jury on the opening day of his trial Monday in Riverhead.
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 August scuffle outside Tailgaters Sports Bar that began on Aug. 20. At one point during the altercation, Cruz placed his glasses and his hat in his car before turning back toward Scott.
"He laces up his shoes, grabs a chair and puts it underneath that security panel," Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Creighton said during her opening arguments before State Supreme Court Justice John Collins. "He takes off his shirt that says security across it, climbs onto that chair and covers the camera.”
Cruz, who was working for a contracted security company hired by the bar, then immediately began striking a seated Scott several times with his fist and open hand, Creighton said.
“But the final, if you will, blow, comes when David Cruz reaches over and grabs Jake Scott right by his shirt,” Creighton told the jury, “pulls him up about waist high and David Cruz, 6-foot-4, drops him, his head smashing onto the concrete sidewalk.”
The two first crossed paths that evening when Cruz broke up a fight Scott had with two other patrons. Creighton said it "didn't sit well with Cruz" when Scott called him a "weirdo" for touching him while he stopped the altercation.
When Scott returned to the bar after 2 a.m., Cruz followed him outside to a smoking area and confronted him, Creighton said. The beating occurred after Scott asked him if he “had a problem,” Creighton said.
Scott died at Stony Brook University Hospital Sept. 1 after suffering multiple skull fractures and bleeding in his brain, according to Creighton. Doctors had performed emergency surgery to remove a portion of his skull to help his swelling brain, she said. Creighton told the jury the evidence at trial will show Cruz "intended to cause serious physical injury, resulting in the death [of Scott]."
Glenn Obedin of Central Islip, Cruz’s defense attorney, said his client was simply doing his job that evening. It was Scott, he said during his opening statement, who arrived at the bar looking for a fight.
In her opening, Creighton acknowledged that Scott had a pocket knife and a box cutter, both of which she said he disposed of before that evening’s altercations escalated.
“That’s very nice of him,” Obedin shot back when it was his turn to address the jury. “But he came to the bar with weapons.”
Obedin said during the trial, the jury will see that there are “clearly two sides to what happened that night.”
“This was involving two people, one who had every reason and right to be there and one who had none,” Obedin told the jury of eight men and four women.
The jury was shown video of the earlier part of the incident and additional footage containing audio captured by a camera outside a neighboring business. That video showed Cruz twice attempting to lure Scott to an area outside the bar that was not being captured on camera.
"Come on, tough guy," Cruz could be heard yelling repeatedly at Scott.
At one point during the altercation, Scott asked his girlfriend, Pamela Carcano, of Selden, to get his knife, she testified Monday.
Scott eventually got in Carcano's car and left after she told him she would end their relationship, she told the jury. But more than two hours later, she asked him to leave her house.
"I told him that I needed him to go home so I could sleep peacefully," Carcano said as she began crying from the witness stand.
Dorielle Bennett, owner of Tailgaters Sports Bar, testified that she hires private security for the late-night hours on Fridays and Saturdays, when the bar hosts musical acts. Cruz was one of two men sent to work at the bar Saturday, Aug. 20.
“He was very polite and very respectable,” Bennett said of the handful of times he had worked there in the three months she had been hiring security before the incident.
Bennett said Scott was a regular at the bar, where he would “drink, pay his tab and go home,” five nights per week.
A bouncer at a Holbrook bar took off his security shirt and used it to cover up a surveillance camera in the moments before he beat a patron and caused his death, a Suffolk County prosecutor told the jury on the opening day of his trial Monday in Riverhead.
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 August scuffle outside Tailgaters Sports Bar that began on Aug. 20. At one point during the altercation, Cruz placed his glasses and his hat in his car before turning back toward Scott.
"He laces up his shoes, grabs a chair and puts it underneath that security panel," Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elizabeth Creighton said during her opening arguments before State Supreme Court Justice John Collins. "He takes off his shirt that says security across it, climbs onto that chair and covers the camera.”
Cruz, who was working for a contracted security company hired by the bar, then immediately began striking a seated Scott several times with his fist and open hand, Creighton said.
WHAT TO KNOW
- The trial of bouncer David Cruz, who is charged in the beating of a patron in a Holbrook bar in August, started with opening arguments in Riverhead Monday.
- Cruz, 32, was charged with first-degree manslaughter following the death of Jake Scott, 32, of Centereach.
- The jury on Monday also heard testimony from a pair of Suffolk County Police Department detectives and Scott's girlfriend. The trial is expected to last one week.
“But the final, if you will, blow, comes when David Cruz reaches over and grabs Jake Scott right by his shirt,” Creighton told the jury, “pulls him up about waist high and David Cruz, 6-foot-4, drops him, his head smashing onto the concrete sidewalk.”
The two first crossed paths that evening when Cruz broke up a fight Scott had with two other patrons. Creighton said it "didn't sit well with Cruz" when Scott called him a "weirdo" for touching him while he stopped the altercation.
When Scott returned to the bar after 2 a.m., Cruz followed him outside to a smoking area and confronted him, Creighton said. The beating occurred after Scott asked him if he “had a problem,” Creighton said.
Scott died at Stony Brook University Hospital Sept. 1 after suffering multiple skull fractures and bleeding in his brain, according to Creighton. Doctors had performed emergency surgery to remove a portion of his skull to help his swelling brain, she said. Creighton told the jury the evidence at trial will show Cruz "intended to cause serious physical injury, resulting in the death [of Scott]."
Glenn Obedin of Central Islip, Cruz’s defense attorney, said his client was simply doing his job that evening. It was Scott, he said during his opening statement, who arrived at the bar looking for a fight.
In her opening, Creighton acknowledged that Scott had a pocket knife and a box cutter, both of which she said he disposed of before that evening’s altercations escalated.
“That’s very nice of him,” Obedin shot back when it was his turn to address the jury. “But he came to the bar with weapons.”
Obedin said during the trial, the jury will see that there are “clearly two sides to what happened that night.”
“This was involving two people, one who had every reason and right to be there and one who had none,” Obedin told the jury of eight men and four women.
The jury was shown video of the earlier part of the incident and additional footage containing audio captured by a camera outside a neighboring business. That video showed Cruz twice attempting to lure Scott to an area outside the bar that was not being captured on camera.
"Come on, tough guy," Cruz could be heard yelling repeatedly at Scott.
At one point during the altercation, Scott asked his girlfriend, Pamela Carcano, of Selden, to get his knife, she testified Monday.
Scott eventually got in Carcano's car and left after she told him she would end their relationship, she told the jury. But more than two hours later, she asked him to leave her house.
"I told him that I needed him to go home so I could sleep peacefully," Carcano said as she began crying from the witness stand.
Dorielle Bennett, owner of Tailgaters Sports Bar, testified that she hires private security for the late-night hours on Fridays and Saturdays, when the bar hosts musical acts. Cruz was one of two men sent to work at the bar Saturday, Aug. 20.
“He was very polite and very respectable,” Bennett said of the handful of times he had worked there in the three months she had been hiring security before the incident.
Bennett said Scott was a regular at the bar, where he would “drink, pay his tab and go home,” five nights per week.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
'A spark for them to escalate the fighting' A standoff between officials has stalled progress, eroded community patience and escalated the price tag for taxpayers. Newsday investigative editor Paul LaRocco and NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie report.
'A spark for them to escalate the fighting' A standoff between officials has stalled progress, eroded community patience and escalated the price tag for taxpayers. Newsday investigative editor Paul LaRocco and NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie report.
