NYC Nightclubs Turn Into NYC Fightclubs

Foto courtesy of: Iudici for News

BY Barry Paddock AND Jonathan Lemire
A night of revelry turned terrifying for nine people who were injured during violence at two city clubs early Sunday, police said. Four employees were stabbed at a glitzy Chelsea club and five people were shot in front of a Staten Island hot spot, police said.
The trouble at Club Promenade on W. 28th St. began after a patron objected to leaving at closing time, police said. Employees were trying to get a raucous crowd to disperse from the club at 4:30 a.m. Abdul Taylor, 35, of Queens, pushed back, cops said.
When the club's bouncers and coat check staff tried to force him out, Taylor pulled a knife and began slashing, police said. Clubgoers ran screaming from the two-story dance hall as other employees called 911. Taylor, of Long Island City, was charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
A 35-year-old Club Promenade employee was stabbed in the stomach during the melee and his 45-year-old colleague was slashed in the torso, officials said. A 28-year-old staffer was cut in the leg and another employee, also 28, was slashed in the arm. They were all in stable condition at St. Vincent's Hospital.
Club Promenade managers refused to comment, but neighbors said the club often attracts a rowdy crowd.
"There is always noise on this street," said neighbor Caroline Asher. "We've had [problems] in this club before."
On Staten Island, cops were sent to The Lion's Lair on Bay St. just after 3 a.m. after calls about a disorderly crowd. Gunshots were heard as police arrived, scattering the group of revelers.
David Walters, 35, who works at a nearby Tompkinsville deli, said it was a quiet night until the shots rang out.
"People kept saying 'Move! Move!' and 'Run! Run!,'" Walters said. "The streets were filled with people all trying to get away. They said someone had a gun. People were scared."
A 20-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man were each hit in the leg and taken to Richmond University Medical Center in stable condition. Before sunrise, three more victims walked into area hospitals and reported that they had also been grazed by bullets outside the club, police said.
No arrests have been made, but police recovered two handguns near the dance hall.