Bar owner avoids charge for hitting deputy with Jeep

The owner of a popular Staten Island bar that flouted COVID-19 restrictions — and became a flashpoint for anti-lockdown demonstrations — has been indicted for selling booze without a license, but escaped charges for hitting a deputy sheriff with his Jeep, officials said Friday.

A Staten Island grand jury indicted Daniel Presti of Mac’s Public House in Grant City for unlicensed sale of alcohol and running an unlicensed bottle club.

In a public battle against COVID edicts by Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo, Presti defiantly declared his Mac’s Pub an “autonomous zone” and refused to shut down to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.

“As has already been made public by his own attorney, Mr. Presti was also given the opportunity to testify in these proceedings and took advantage of that right that he has under the law,” Richmond County DA Michael McMahon said.

“After reviewing all of the evidence presented, the grand jury voted that there was sufficient evidence to charge Mr. Presti.”

Presti was not ultimately indicted for assault on a law enforcement officer in a Dec. 6 altercation involving a deputy sheriff who was part of an operation to close the pub.

When Sgt. Kenneth Matos called out to Presti the night of the clash, Presti allegedly jumped into his Jeep and hit the gas, court records show. He took off, striking Matos, knocking the deputy onto the hood.

Presti allegedly kept driving and made two turns before he was stopped by a sheriff’s vehicle, court records show. He had faced charges that included assault, menacing, and reckless driving fleeing a police officer.

On Dec. 8, after Staten Island Judge William Garnett ordered Presti released without bail, the Legal Aid Society slammed the move, saying it should be scrutinized because people of color in the same situation wouldn’t have been given the same treatment.

NYC Sheriff Joseph Fucito said Matos is “slowly recovering and has our support.”

“The multiple evidence videos submitted to the grand jury clearly showed deadly physical force was deployed against a uniformed deputy sheriff for carrying out his duty,” Fucito said in a statement.

“The evidence was of equal or greater caliber then other similar deadly assaults where criminal indictments were obtained. The choices of the Grand Jury are beyond my review, but we stand by the investigation and actions of the deputy sheriffs concerning Mac’s Pub.”