Bouncer nabbed in stab slay at a Brooklyn bar

A bouncer at a Brooklyn bar has been arrested for stabbing a disorderly patron to death, police said Monday.

Maurice Hartridge, 43, was arrested and charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in the April 7 death of 37-year-old Daryl Dawkins.

The victim was sitting at the bar at Catch 22 on Third Ave. near 73rd St. in Bay Ridge attempting to buy numerous women drinks, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said last week. Witnesses told cops the man got “a little bit loud” when he claimed he’d paid for a drink that he never received, according to Kenny.

“At some point, he begins to argue with a female bartender about his bill,” Kenny said. “He gets to the point where a male bartender comes over and asks him to kind of cool out a little bit.” Dawkins refused and bouncers at the bar decided to escort him outside.

Surveillance video shows the man swinging at one of the bouncers outside the bar, Kenny said.

Hartridge, who was working at the bar that night, got involved in the scuffle and stabbed Dawkins once in the heart and aorta. He was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, but could not be saved.

Dawkins lived in Tobyhanna, Pa., after growing up in Brooklyn. He traveled back and forth between Pennsylvania and Bay Ridge to be with his girlfriend, who is pregnant, The News previously reported.

Dawkins had three children — a son, 9, and two daughters, 5 and 3.

Following an arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Sunday, Hartridge was held on a $50,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond, records show.

He is being held at a Rikers Island jail pending his next court appearance. Hartridge lives in the Bronx, police said.