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Bouncer Dies, and Family Blames City's Smoking Ban
A bouncer at a bar on Manhattan's Lower East Side was fatally stabbed early yesterday during a fight that broke out after he asked two patrons to put out their cigarettes, the police said.
The bouncer's brother blamed a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars that went into effect two weeks ago for the death, calling his brother, Dana Blake, "the first casualty" of New York City's new law.
About 2:30 a.m. yesterday, Mr. Blake, 32, known in the neighborhood for a gentle manner that contrasted with his imposing frame, told two brothers, Jonathan and Ching Chan, that they could not smoke in the bar, the police said they were told by witnesses.
It is not clear how the brothers responded, but whatever was said caused Mr. Blake to try to eject Jonathan Chan, 29, from the bar, Guernica, at 25 Avenue B, taking hold of his neck, the police said.
Ching Chan, 31, tried to intervene, the police said, grabbing Mr. Blake's neck, and then another man and woman who were apparently friends of the brothers joined in, with the woman leaping onto the bouncer's back to break up the fight.
Amid the scuffle, one of the brothers stabbed Mr. Blake in the torso, and both ran out of the bar, the police said. People who work on that block of Avenue B said that another bouncer from the bar chased them down.
The police arrested the two brothers on charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest.
The police said last night that they had not determined which brother had stabbed Mr. Blake.
A woman who answered the door last night at Jonathan Chan's address on the Lower East Side declined to comment. No one answered the door at Ching Chan's address in Chinatown.
Mr. Blake, 32, was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center, where he died almost 12 hours later with his family watching over him. The knife had severed one of his arteries, said Tony Blake, Mr. Blake's older brother.
"Why does somebody have to suffer because somebody wants to pass a cigarette law?" Tony Blake asked. He said that he did not smoke or drink himself, but added, "If you go to Sodom and Gomorrah, you're going to find people smoking there. This is what bars are."
But the police played down the connection between the death and the antismoking law, which was championed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "The smoking issue was the initial contact," said Deputy Commissioner Michael O'Looney, the Police Department's chief spokesman. "The homicide seems to be more over the issue of the ejection from the bar."
Edward Skyler, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, declined to comment on Tony's Blake's assertion that the smoking regulations were central to the crime. "The mayor is satisfied that the police quickly apprehended the two men responsible for this senseless death, and his thoughts are with the family of the victim," Mr. Skyler said.
Tony Blake said that in his brother's years as a bouncer, he had been attacked and even stabbed before, but that he loved the job. He had been working at Guernica for about 18 months, and had a side business custom-painting portraits on the backs of denim jackets, Tony Blake said.
Standing 6-foot-5 with a shaved head, Dana Blake, known to his co-workers and friends as Shazam, was a striking presence on the block of Avenue B between Third and Fourth Streets. He went out of his way to play with small children, assembling a bicycle for his 2-year-old niece, Nyah, or entertaining Noah Leeds, the toddler son of Jonathan and Suzie Leeds, who sell ices on Avenue B, friends and family members said.
"He had a tremendous heart," Mr. Leeds said. "He was so big and imposing, but when you knew him you couldn't help gravitating to him."
Unaware that Mr. Blake had died at the hospital, the Leeds family had been discussing how to raise money to help pay his medical bills, they said.
Adam Silk, a chiropractor on the block, called Mr. Blake a "pacifist" and said he was diplomatic when it came to handling belligerent patrons.
Most of the workers at Guernica, an upscale lounge with a sleek curved bar and a menu of tapas, declined to speak with a reporter yesterday, but put a vase of red chrysanthemums on the sidewalk. In the window, they put up several photographs of Mr. Blake, alone and with friends, in each one wearing black and smiling with delight.
The bouncer's brother blamed a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars that went into effect two weeks ago for the death, calling his brother, Dana Blake, "the first casualty" of New York City's new law.
About 2:30 a.m. yesterday, Mr. Blake, 32, known in the neighborhood for a gentle manner that contrasted with his imposing frame, told two brothers, Jonathan and Ching Chan, that they could not smoke in the bar, the police said they were told by witnesses.
It is not clear how the brothers responded, but whatever was said caused Mr. Blake to try to eject Jonathan Chan, 29, from the bar, Guernica, at 25 Avenue B, taking hold of his neck, the police said.
Ching Chan, 31, tried to intervene, the police said, grabbing Mr. Blake's neck, and then another man and woman who were apparently friends of the brothers joined in, with the woman leaping onto the bouncer's back to break up the fight.
Amid the scuffle, one of the brothers stabbed Mr. Blake in the torso, and both ran out of the bar, the police said. People who work on that block of Avenue B said that another bouncer from the bar chased them down.
The police arrested the two brothers on charges of assault, criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest.
The police said last night that they had not determined which brother had stabbed Mr. Blake.
A woman who answered the door last night at Jonathan Chan's address on the Lower East Side declined to comment. No one answered the door at Ching Chan's address in Chinatown.
Mr. Blake, 32, was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center, where he died almost 12 hours later with his family watching over him. The knife had severed one of his arteries, said Tony Blake, Mr. Blake's older brother.
"Why does somebody have to suffer because somebody wants to pass a cigarette law?" Tony Blake asked. He said that he did not smoke or drink himself, but added, "If you go to Sodom and Gomorrah, you're going to find people smoking there. This is what bars are."
But the police played down the connection between the death and the antismoking law, which was championed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "The smoking issue was the initial contact," said Deputy Commissioner Michael O'Looney, the Police Department's chief spokesman. "The homicide seems to be more over the issue of the ejection from the bar."
Edward Skyler, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, declined to comment on Tony's Blake's assertion that the smoking regulations were central to the crime. "The mayor is satisfied that the police quickly apprehended the two men responsible for this senseless death, and his thoughts are with the family of the victim," Mr. Skyler said.
Tony Blake said that in his brother's years as a bouncer, he had been attacked and even stabbed before, but that he loved the job. He had been working at Guernica for about 18 months, and had a side business custom-painting portraits on the backs of denim jackets, Tony Blake said.
Standing 6-foot-5 with a shaved head, Dana Blake, known to his co-workers and friends as Shazam, was a striking presence on the block of Avenue B between Third and Fourth Streets. He went out of his way to play with small children, assembling a bicycle for his 2-year-old niece, Nyah, or entertaining Noah Leeds, the toddler son of Jonathan and Suzie Leeds, who sell ices on Avenue B, friends and family members said.
"He had a tremendous heart," Mr. Leeds said. "He was so big and imposing, but when you knew him you couldn't help gravitating to him."
Unaware that Mr. Blake had died at the hospital, the Leeds family had been discussing how to raise money to help pay his medical bills, they said.
Adam Silk, a chiropractor on the block, called Mr. Blake a "pacifist" and said he was diplomatic when it came to handling belligerent patrons.
Most of the workers at Guernica, an upscale lounge with a sleek curved bar and a menu of tapas, declined to speak with a reporter yesterday, but put a vase of red chrysanthemums on the sidewalk. In the window, they put up several photographs of Mr. Blake, alone and with friends, in each one wearing black and smiling with delight.
I may have missed this, but where was there ANY mention of a lawsuit?
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