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Shooting prompts state probe of Don Juan restaurant

BY MATTHEW CHAYES | matthew.chayes@newsday.com

10:10 PM EST, February 21, 2008

Had cops been notified that a Westbury night club planned to hold a "teen night" Nassau police said they likely would have intensified patrols the night a teenager was fatally shot and three others critically wounded outside the club.

Now, the State Liquor Authority is scrutinizing Don Juan Mexican Restaurant's Club La Boom, where the four young men had been partying before they were shot Sunday, an agency spokesman said Thursday.

The scrutiny comes after police investigating the shooting found patrons as young as 12, a Nassau police spokesman said.

Although Nassau police had no unusually high presence before the shooting, police "intensify" patrols and concentrations of plainclothes officers when they learn of plans to hold such events, said the spokesman, Det. Lt. Kevin Smith.

Police have made no allegation that the patrons were served alcohol that night, but, except under limited circumstances, state law bans liquor-licensed establishments from admitting anyone younger than 16 without a parent or guardian.

Liquor Authority spokesman William Crowley acknowledged that this provision of the law would apply to any of the 25,000 or so establishments with a liquor license in New York State -- including restaurants. But Crowley said the authority's actions are largely driven by tips and complaints.

Crowley said Nassau police have contacted the authority and that tough sanctions, such as the loss of the club's liquor license, are possible. "We're certainly looking into it," Crowley said of the allegations.

Even before the suspected gang-related shooting, which left a 17-year-old Westbury boy dead, the Old Country Road establishment had been "the focus of" police attention because of incidents dating back to October, including for overcrowding and underage drinking, Smith said. And the night of the shooting, he said, officers seeking witnesses interviewed children as young as 12.

Police say the club had promoted the evening as a "teen night," but never registered the event with the liquor authority, Crowley said. Police were told about the designation only after the shooting, Smith said.

Teen nights, when no alcohol is available for the duration of the event and there are no age limits, are one of the few exceptions to the law barring children younger than 16 from alcohol-serving establishments.

But the same law requires teen-night hosts who plan to admit children younger than 16 to notify in writing the liquor authority and local cops at least 10 days before the event.

Henry Warokomski, an East Meadow attorney for the club's owner, disputed that the club needed to file the teen-night notification with the authorities, saying it did not plan to admit children younger than 16. He also noted a closed door separated the alcohol-free club from the restaurant.

"Any liquor that they had in the club was taken out," Warokomski said. "All they were serving was soda and water."

Warokomski, who said he was told the club was not admitting anyone under 16, noted the shooting happened in the parking lot, there was no trouble inside, and a gang appeared to have targeted the victims.