Man who sparked fatal brawl freed, officer still in coma
A man whose search for a bathroom sparked a wild melee that ended with a cop shooting dead a mentally ill man inside a Brooklyn nail salon was released without bail Saturday at a hearing in Brooklyn Criminal Court.
Dewayne Hawkes, 26, was arraigned on charges of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing in an incident Friday night in which police said he urinated inside the Goldmine Nail Salon on Mother Gaston Blvd. near Sutter Ave. in Brownsville.
Reporters hoping to attend Hawkes’ arraignment were directed to the wrong courtroom — and didn’t learn he was freed to a supervised release program until after the hearing was over.
Court officials initially said the charges against Hawkes were dismissed. Later, a spokesman for the Brooklyn DA’s office confirmed that Hawkes was freed without bail, and that the case is continuing.
Hawkes walked into the salon about 5:36 p.m. Friday and asked to use the bathroom. When a salon employee said no, he walked into the salon’s kitchen and locked the door behind him, said a court complaint.
A salon worker “heard the sound of the defendant urinating in said kitchen, and observed urine on the floor of the kitchen when defendant left,” the complaint said.
Workers at the salon upset by Hawkes’ action flagged down officers moments later. As cops tried to arrest him, T-shirt vendor Kwesi Ashun entered the store and smashed an officer in the head with a chair, said police.
The injured officer was identified by sources Saturday as Lesly Lafontant, 53, a 21year NYPD veteran. Lafontant managed to squeeze off six shots, killing Ashun.
During the incident, Hawkes slipped away, with a handcuff around one wrist. Cops captured him a short time later.
Lafontant was rushed to Brookdale University Medical Center, where he remained Saturday in a medically induced coma in critical but stable condition.
His rookie partner. who has seven months on the job, was treated at another hospital for tinnitus. Court papers identify an officer involved in trying to arrest Hawkes as Joseph Leon of the 73rd Precinct.
Ashun’s relatives say he was bipolar. He has a record of brutally assaulting police.
Ashun was accused in October 2004 of using a knife to slice Officer James Sinnott’s face from ear to neck, said a Daily News report at the time. Another officer, Brian Risano, was injured as he and other officers tried to subdue Ashun, then 18.
Cops used clubs and pepper spray to subdue Ashun in the incident. He was then admitted to Kings County Hospital as an “emotionally disturbed person.” His mother, now deceased, said she was grateful for the officers’ restraint.
Police sources confirmed Saturday that Ashun was the same man mentioned in the 2004 news stories about the incident in Flatbush. But the case was sealed, and it was not possible Saturday to learn its outcome.
Ashun’s family sought help for his mental illness — but a crisis team from Kings County Hospital said there was nothing they could do, his sister told The News.
One of Ashun’s friends said the T-shirt designer was never a threat to anyone and was only interested in fashion.
Fighting back tears near Ashun’s home, Kabar Walker found the six shots fired at his long time friend “excessive.”
“He was less threat than a person who had a knife or a gun,” Walker, 35, said. “You (also) have a partner to help you too, to restrain him in some way, without having to use deadly force on him.
“Once (lethal force is) used that’s it,” said Walker. “It’s like a plane accident.”
Mayor de Blasio on Saturday demanded a “full investigation.”
“A civilian assaulted a police officer violently and that is not acceptable,” the mayor said. “We need an investigation of everything that happened here as per usual with the use of force, but I also want to make very clear we’ve got an officer in a medically induced coma right now. I just need to put that front an center — that is not acceptable.”