Long Island vigilante, 32, covered CCTV camera with T-shirt before bludgeoning bar patron to death after calling him ‘freaky’: 6ft 25 man faces jail after manslaughter conviction
- David Cruz, 32, was found guilty of manslaughter after allegedly bludgeoning a man to death outside the Tailgaters Bar in Holbrook, New York on August 21.
- Cruz couldn’t control his temper when Jake Scott, 32, called him a weirdo
- He covered the camera in the bar and punched Scott unconscious
The Long Island vigilante who covered a CCTV camera and bludgeoned a bar patron to death after calling him a “freak” faces 25 years in prison for manslaughter.
David Cruz, 32, thought he wasn’t going to be arrested for brutally beating Jake Scott, 32, outside the Tailgaters pub in Holbrook on August 21.
Cruz, who weighs 270 pounds and is six-foot-5, got into several altercations with Scott before the guard decided to climb on a chair and cover the security camera with his shirt around 2.45am, according to prosecutors.
However, Cruz missed a security camera from a nearby company that caught him nailing Scott unconscious.
The former guard was found guilty on Monday and is due to return for sentencing on May 25.
A man has been convicted in connection with the death of 32-year-old Jake Scott (above) outside a Long Island tavern on August 21
David Cruz, the bouncer at Tailgaters Bar, became furious when Scott (above) called him a “weirdo.” Cruz then covered the bar’s security camera and beat Scott unconscious
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced Cruz’s manslaughter charges which he said could have been avoided and not “escalated”.
“But the defendant could not control his temper and beat Jake Scott so badly that he needed to go into a coma and he later died due to the severity of his injuries,” Tierney wrote in a statement.
Tierney explained that Cruz got frustrated with Scott after calling him a “weirdo” while the bouncer was working at the bar.
Before covering his shirt with the camera, Cruz attempted to remove the victim from the camera’s view before throwing his first punch.
“When Scott lay motionless and unconscious on the floor, Cruz grabbed Scott’s shirt and pulled on him, screaming for Scott to get up,” the district attorney’s office wrote.
When Scott did not respond, Cruz knocked him to the ground and dealt a deathblow to Scott’s head before fleeing the scene.
Scott was in the hospital for 11 days before he died. It showed him a picture of Scott with a black eye, several blows to his head, and a neck brace.
The brutal incident took place outside Tailgaters Bar in Holbrook, New York in August 2022
Scott had gotten into several altercations with the bouncer prior to the altercation. Pictured: inside the bar
Scott was in the hospital for 11 days before he died. Prosecutors say his fight with Cruz could have been ‘cooled down’
Three days after the accident, Cruz turned himself in to the police.
Prosecutors convicted the bouncer of harming a pastor rather than keeping him safe as part of his job.
This defendant’s job was as a guard to protect the patrons of the establishment he worked for, removing anyone who posed a threat to clients, but it turned out that the only threat to the public on the night of this victim’s tragic death, was the defendant himself, prosecutor Tierney wrote.
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 to raise money for his funeral expenses. More than $27,000 was raised.
