The brawl that devolved into a Wild West shootout outside a Brooklyn bar was sparked by a failed pick-up attempt and an insult about a man's rodent-like hair, according to a woman who says an off-duty cop was spoiling for a fight after she shot him down. The violent shenanigans, which exploded outside The Old Gallery bar in Kensington (known as OG's to regulars), left one man, 26-year-old Pablo Negron, hospitalized with gunshot wounds to the side and thigh. His date, an unidentified Massachusetts woman, tells the Daily News she was at the center of the whole mess.
The woman claims off-duty cop Albert Lloyd, 37, made a pass at her in the bar, which she rebuffed, even sending back a drink he bought for her. "I said, 'I'm not from here and unfortunately I am accompanied right now, so I'm not going to speak to you,' the woman recalls. And when Lloyd saw that she was with Negron, she claims he insulted Negron's hair, calling him a "rabbit chinchilla." According to the woman, she managed to calm Negron down after the slight, but a fracas erupted later when Lloyd and his friend, 28-year-old off-duty cop Jason Reynolds, were leaving OG's.
Police say Reynolds bumped into Negron's 21-year-old pal Jonathan LeDuc, who reacted with the classic riposte, "What are you looking at?" Reynolds reacted by showing his badge and identifying himself as a cop, and that's when LeDuc said, "I don't care who you are" and punched him in the face so hard he knocked out an earring—according to Royster. Fists flew, and Negron stepped in, allegedly putting Lloyd in a headlock. A witness says he saw Lloyd trying to pistol-whip Negron, but he dropped the gun, which Negron snatched up and started firing wildly, squeezing off nine rounds and hitting no one.
Reynolds pointed his gun at Negron, police say, and ordered him to drop Lloyd's firearm, but Negron kept shooting and Reynolds fired back, discharging nine rounds of his own and hitting Negron twice. "I ran to him," says Negron's date. "I tried to keep him conscious. I was slapping him, but that didn't work. There was a big blood spot," she said, "All he kept saying was, 'Just talk to my mom.'"
Negron, who has prior arrests for drugs, assaults trespassing and weapons charges and goes by the name "Kurupt," is listed in stable condition, and has been charged with attempted murder and assault. His friend LeDuc was also arrested—and there was a third man: Jose Rivera, who allegedly ran off with Lloyd's gun, which was later recovered on a nearby rooftop. He's charged with evidence tampering. The NYPD is investigating whether the two cops, whose shifts had ended at 2 a.m., acted properly. When Reynolds's blood alcohol level was tested (at some point), it was down to .04, which is half the legal limit and deemed sober enough for duty.
