Honey, I Forgot To Pay The Protection Money

David Kelleran, 51, claimed in his lawsuit that the police's Prohibition-style tactics violated state law and trampled on his rights. And, in any case, the police got the wrong address.

Kelleran, who owns the restaurant called 68, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for the loss of alcohol worth "thousands of thousands" of dollars, his attorney Craig Trainor said on Thursday.

According to the lawsuit, Kelleran was notified in July 2011 by the New York State Liquor Authority that his $4,382 check to renew 68's liquor license bounced and he had ten days to make the payment.

Before the ten days were up, Kelleran said police came to his apartment over the restaurant in Brooklyn and arrested him for selling alcoholic drinks without a license. He spent the night in jail, the lawsuit said.

While he was in jail, police went into Coco66, a bar Kelleran owned next door to 68, and poured all his wine, beer and liquor down a drain, the lawsuit said.

Seems a bit off there somewhere.  The best the article lays out the facts, it appears either Kelleran's protection money check also bounced, or we have some seriously overzealous cops with an extreme interest in overdue license fees.

Unless a major fact is missing, this guy has a pretty good case.  To destroy so much property under these circumstances is at the very least a major ethical lapse.