Customer turns violent when barred from Farmingdale deli, cops say

A customer with a troubled history involving a Farmingdale deli’s female employees became violent when he was barred Saturday from the premises, then struggled with cops trying to arrest him, the Nassau Police Department said Sunday in a news release.

The customer, Anthony Ayala, 20, of Farmingdale, had reacted to a 26-year-old manager telling him around 5:20 p.m. that he couldn’t come into Fabio’s Deli and Grocery by shattering the store’s front glass door, kicking a rear door off its hinges and beating a male employee, 28, police said.

He punched the employee in the chest and grabbed a pipe the man was using to defend himself and hit him with it in the abdomen, according to police.

Ayala fled and was detained by police nearby, following a struggle, according to the release, which said he was charged with burglary. Under New York law, burglary covers entering a premises without permission for the purpose of committing a crime.

Ayala was charged with assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, and criminal possession of a weapon. He was also charged with criminal contempt because, the release said, he violated previously issued orders of protection for the female employees, ages 52 and 21, against him.

Ayala was ordered held on $30,000 bond or $15,000 cash bail, according to the state's court record database. He was represented by the Legal Aid Society, whose practice is not to comment to the press. It was not clear whether Ayala had made bail.

The deli was closed Sunday night, and no one there could be reached for comment.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.