The Coney Island homeless are getting restless, according to the staff at recently saved longtime boardwalk watering hole Cha Cha's. Like restless to the point that violence has erupted outside the bar three times in one past week. We blame all those feral cats, or something.
In one case, on July 14, a bartender says he was beaten after he tried to stop another man from attacking a homeless woman under the Shore Theater scaffolding. Eventually he says cops separated them.
Then on July 18 the bar's owner says a homeless person attacked one of his customers and finally, on July 20, manager Dee Mancuso says she was hurt trying to keep out six "vagrants" who were trying to force their way into the bar after bickering with a bartender:
Mancuso said her worker was smoking outside when the homeless woman surprised him by putting her hands on his face. The worker pushed the woman away and she fell over, enraging several of the vagabonds who lined up menacingly along Cha Cha’s open storefront.
“It was insane, they were trying to get inside,” said Mancuso.
Mancuso said she and her workers managed to keep the men at bay, but she was socked in the face in the fray, resulting in visible swelling. However, she said she wouldn’t press charges.
“What’s the point? The guy will be in jail overnight, and back out here tomorrow,” she said.
The Cha Cha's crew says the blame lies solely with the Shore Theater, but the police seem to be taking an interest. Though the NYPD didn't have anything on the incidents when we asked about them, Brooklyn Daily says that an officer was posted near where the attacks allegedly took place on Friday. Calls to Cha Cha's were not answered.
