Riverhead sports bar's liquor license pulled

Police and the state Liquor Authority have pulled the plug on the liquor license for a Riverhead restaurant and bar that was the scene of a brutal stabbing in the men's room last month.

The Casa Rica Restaurant and Sports Bar on East Main Street was served with an emergency order that prohibits the sale of alcohol, Riverhead police said. The order was served at 9:20 p.m. in connection with a license revocation proceeding.

The bar has been the scene of "dozens of complaints across the board," a Riverhead police spokeswoman said Friday.

The latest violent incident occurred Oct. 19, when Elmer Miranda de Paz, 28, of Vail Avenue in Flanders, stabbed Hugo Alberto, 35, of Riverhead "several times" in the abdomen, police said.

Miranda de Paz was arrested a short distance from the crime scene and charged with first-degree assault, police said. The disposition of his case was not immediately known Friday.

Alberto was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center and later transferred to Stony Brook University Medical Center in critical condition. His condition was also not known Friday.

Police said a weapon was recovered at the time of arrest.

In 2009, a Flanders man slashed a fellow patron in a machete attack, police said.

Calls to Casa Rica went unanswered Friday morning.