Long Island bouncer, 32, covered a CCTV camera with a shirt before beating a bar patron to death after calling him a ‘weirdo’: Six-foot-tall man now faces 25 years in prison after being found guilty of manslaughter
- David Cruz, 32, was found guilty of manslaughter after beating a man to death outside Tailgaters Bar in Holbrook, New York, on August 21.
- Cruz couldn’t contain his anger when Jake Scott, 32, called him a lunatic
- He covered the camera at the bar and beat Scott until he was unconscious
A Long Island bouncer who covered a CCTV camera and beat a bar patron to death after calling him a “weirdo” faces 25 years in prison for manslaughter.
David Cruz, 32, thought he wouldn’t get caught for brutally beating Jake Scott, 32, outside Tailgaters Bar in Holbrook on August 21.
Cruz, who weighs 270 pounds and is six feet tall, got into several scuffles with Scott before the bouncer decided to climb into a chair and cover a security camera with his shirt around 2:45 a.m., prosecutors said.
But Cruz missed a nearby company’s surveillance camera that caught him nailing Scott until he was unconscious.
The former bouncer was found guilty on Monday and must return for sentencing on May 25.
A man was found guilty in connection with the death of 32-year-old Jake Scott (above) outside a Long Island bar on Aug. 21
Tailgaters Bar bouncer David Cruz got mad when Scott (above) called him a “weirdo.” Cruz then covered the bar’s security camera and punched Scott until he was unconscious
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced the manslaughter charges, which he said could have been prevented and not “de-escalated.”
“But the defendant could not contain his anger and beat Jake Scott so badly that he had to be put into a coma and later died due to the severity of his injuries,” Tierney wrote in a statement.
Tierney explained that Cruz grew frustrated with Scott after calling him a “weirdo” while the bouncer was working at the bar.
Before covering his shirt with the camera, Cruz tried to lure the victim out of the camera’s viewpoint before landing his first punch.
“As Scott lay motionless and unconscious on the floor, Cruz grabbed Scott’s shirt and pulled it up, yelling for Scott to get up,” the district attorney’s office wrote.
“When Scott didn’t respond, Cruz dropped him back to the ground and landed a final blow to Scott on the head before fleeing the scene.”
Scott was in the hospital for 11 days before he died. A photo of Scott showed him with a black eye, several blows to the head and a neck brace.
The brutal incident took place outside Tailgaters Bar in Holbrook, New York in August 2022
Scott had had several fights with the bouncer before the altercation. In the photo: in the bar
Scott was in the hospital for 11 days before he died. Prosecutors said his fight with Cruz could have been “de-escalated.”
Three days after the incident, Cruz turned himself in to police.
Prosecutors convicted the bouncer of harming a patron rather than protecting them as part of his job.
This defendant’s job as a bouncer was to protect patrons of the establishment he worked for and remove anyone who posed a threat to customers, but it turned out that the only threat to the public on the night of this victim’s tragic death , was the defendant himself,” wrote District Attorney Tierney.
He added, “I am grateful that the jury paid careful attention to this case and found the defendant guilty of this violent and senseless crime.”
At the time of his death, a GoFundMe was set up to support Scott’s mother, Deborah Scott, and raise money for his funeral expenses. More than $27,000 was raised.