Monday, August 3, 2009

Not up to dress code: Off-duty cop arrested after he pulls gun on bouncer at Mingles

From the Daily News by Alison Gendar, Joe Jackson and Oren Yaniv:

An off-duty NYPD cop was busted Sunday for waving a gun at a bouncer who refused to let him into a Queens club, police and witnesses said.

Trevor Harpaul, 28, pulled the gun and taunted the bouncer after he was turned away from Mingles Lounge on 101st Ave. in Ozone Park about 1 a.m.

"Where's your mouth now?" he asked the terrified bouncer.

The cop showed up at the club wearing a red cap, sneakers and shorts, a violation of the joint's dress code, a manager said.

"He was very intoxicated with slurred speech," said the manager, 30, who asked not to be named. "He insisted on coming in."

A bouncer turned him away, prompting Harpaul to display his NYPD identification and mouth off some more.

"You think you're big? I've got something for you," he said, according to a witness.

The cop went back to his car and came back holding an unlicensed handgun with a defaced serial number, an illegal weapon that would be difficult to trace if it were used in a crime, sources said.

Two uniformed cops arrived, ordered Harpaul to the ground and handcuffed him. The officers found Harpaul's service weapon and marijuana in his car.

Harpaul, a four-year member of the force assigned to Brooklyn's 84th Precinct, was awaiting arraignment Sunday night.

He was charged with weapons possession, reckless endangerment and menacing, all felonies, as well as possession of marijuana and other counts.

"I don't know what he does at night, it's none of my business," said the cop's father, Americk Harpaul, 51, who answered the door at their home in East New York, Brooklyn.

oyaniv@nydailynews.com

With Kate Nocera

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