Cops ‘club’

A GROUP OF club and restaurant owners who cater to Brooklyn’s Caribbean community say police from the 67th Precinct are harassing and taking cheap shots at them with bogus booze violations.

Last week, former City Councilman Kendall Stewart and his son, Omar, filed separate lawsuits against the city and the NYPD, accusing cops of continually trying to shut down the expol’s lounge, Cafe Omar.

The Stewarts and other nightlife operators in Flatbush and East Flatbush have accused officers of purposely spoiling events, including ones tied to the annual New York Caribbean Carnival Parade.

“It seems like they are targeting all of the West Indian clubs,” Kendall Stewart, 67, told the Daily News.

“They victimize you when you do anything. They’ll send a squad in there.”

Stewart said that in August 2016, brass in the 67th Precinct shut down a sold-out event at his club in the runup to the event then known as the West Indian Day Parade without giving him any reason.

He later met with officers from the precinct to try to establish a better working relationship.

Instead, the officers told him to cancel all future events scheduled around the Labor Day weekend parade “as the NYPD did not want any crimes in the jurisdiction of the 67th Precinct,” his lawsuit says.

Cops also ordered Stewart to cancel events tied to other holidays like Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, according to the lawsuit.

Officers visited Cafe Omar several times in 2017, seizing $5,000 worth of booze and telling patrons the club didn’t have a liquor license — even though Stewart showed them the proper documentation, the lawsuit says.

But the NYPD said that Cafe Omar has brought the scrutiny on itself.

The department said that in 2017 alone, officers responded to nearly a dozen 911 calls where incidents — including assaults and shootings — have either involved patrons at Omar or occurred outside the club.

There were also six noise complaints made about the club during that year.

“The NYPD responds to locations based on community complaints, including crime complaints and 311 and 911 calls,” NYPD spokesman Lt. John Grimpel said.

“As you can see by the history of this establishment, it’s a problematic location.”

Indeed, Stewart’s club has a history of complaints and violations with the State Liquor Authority, including for overcrowding, loud noise and disorderly behavior, records show.

In fact, the authority’s board last month voted to impose a 90-day license suspension starting on Feb. 13 and ordered the cafe to pay a $30,000 penalty.

But Stewart said in the lawsuit that the reason for the NYPD crackdowns is racism.

“The defendants did not treat white-owned businesses in the same manner as they treated the Caribbean-owned business,” the lawsuit says.

During a Jan. 27, 2017, inspection, police arrested Omar Stewart — who was an employee at the cafe but not the owner — for illegal possession of alcohol and a failure to display a state-issued liquor license.

Omar, whose lawsuit is over the arrest, said he spent two days in jail. A judge eventually dismissed the charges.

The Stewarts aren’t the only ones griping that cops are targeting Caribbean businesses.

June Persaud, the treasurer of Community Board 17 and the coordinator of Brooklyn Nightlife and Restaurant Coalition, said she has collected complaints from the owners of at least 10 bars and restaurants who say a recently assigned sergeant in the 67th Precinct has been harassing them.

She sent NYPD brass an email on Dec. 14 about the problems with the sergeant, noting that he tells owners, “I am the new sheriff in town.”

“He is not the right fit for our community,” she wrote. “He is a racial person and is abusing his powers as an officer of the law.”

Assistant Chief Steven Powers, who oversees the precincts in south Brooklyn, wrote back to Persaud that day, saying the problems had also been brought to his attention at the 67th Precinct Community Council meetings.

“We are taking steps to correct it, including meeting with the business owners again to discuss the violations that exist in their establishments,” Powers wrote.

“Also, please be advised that (the sergeant) is now equipped with a body camera which will record all of his interactions with the business owners.”