Bar worker stabbed; customer arrested

An employee of P&G’s Restaurant and Bar on Main Street in the village was stabbed in the arm at closing time by a customer who didn’t want to leave, New Paltz police said Tuesday.

The employee, who was not seriously injured, was treated at a hospital and released, according to Lt. Robert Lucchesi. Police did not identify the employee; Lucchesi said he might have been a security employee or a bartender.

Nicholas R. Mottsey, 26, of High Falls, was arrested about 4:30 a.m. Saturday at the bar by a New Paltz police officer who was on patrol and saw that he was refusing to leave at closing time.

Mottsey, who initially gave the officer another name and age, was charged with the felonies of assault and identity theft, and the misdemeanor of criminal possession of a weapon, according to a police press release.

As the officer approached the scene, he saw Mottsey brandish a knife and stab the employee, police said. They said the officer intervened, ordering Mottsey to drop the knife and using his Taser when the suspect refused to comply.

At the police station after his arrest, Mottsey initially misidentified himself and provided the officer with a fake date of birth, police said. He was arraigned under the fake name and sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail

After Mottsey was booked at the jail, officers discovered his real identity and added the identity theft charge, the press release said.