Remember that bar owner in New York who declared his pub an "Autonomous Zone" and then was later arrested by sheriffs for trespassing at his own bar? Yeah, he's back and this one's pretty bizarre.
The New York City Sheriff's department is saying that Danny Presti ran down one of their officers in his car when they tried to arrest him again on Sunday.
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Here's how it went down according to New York Sheriff Joseph Fucito,
"[the officers] identified themselves and approached Mr. Presti and attempted to take him into custody for the multiple criminal offenses observed. Presti began to flee on foot towards his vehicle."
That's when he jumped into his turquoise Jeep, threw it into gear, and smashed into Sergeant Kenneth Matos, throwing him up onto the car's hood. They say he then took Sgt. Matos for a 300-foot ride before another officer smashed his car into Presti's vehicle to stop him. They were then able to place Presti under arrest. Sgt. Matos is said to have sustained fractures in both legs.
Here's what Mayor Bill de Blasio's spokesman had to say about the whole thing.
But here's where it gets even weirder.
The pub and the attorney representing Presti are denying the whole thing!
Presti's attorney, Mark Fonte, told The New York Post, that he has three videos that prove the officer was never hit and was never on the hood of Presti's car. He even accused the Sheriff's of lying about the incident, saying, "From what I have seen, it doesn't appear the way the sheriff is saying it happened."
He also called on the sheriff's office to release bodycam or dashcam footage to substantiate their claim.
The bar's Facebook page posted this message after the incident, "We will not back down! You have not scared us!! The world is watching and it's time for everyone to wake up!" They later deleted the post.
Presti was hit with 10 charges, including third-degree assault with intent to cause physical injury. But oddly, even after all of that, they released him AGAIN the same day without bail.
This saga just gets stranger and stranger.
