Last summer, a group of Black peaceful protesters gathered outside an ice cream shop in upstate New York to protest its owner, David Elmendorf, for allegedly sending a series of racist texts and claiming he wouldn’t hire a Black person at the shop. Elmendorf responded by calling the police, claiming they threatened to shoot him. As a result, Elmendorf is now the first person being sued by the New York attorney general under a new law that makes it a crime to file false “race-based” police reports.
According to the lawsuit, it was actually Elmendorf who decided to show his whole ass during the protest outside of Bumpy’s Polar Freeze, the ice cream shop he owns with his wife, the Washington Post reports. The lawsuit alleges that Elmendorf told the protesters “If you come over here I’m going to shoot you.” He allegedly called the protesters “monkeys” and “niggers” and yelled “I’ll kill all of you!”
“Elmendorf violated various New York laws over the course of two days in June 2020 when he made multiple armed threats, including death threats using derogatory racist language, against peaceful Black protesters and made false reports to the police regarding those protesters,” New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote in the eight-page lawsuit.
For an ice cream man, this man has no chill. Elmendorf strikes me as the kind of man who doesn’t serve swirled ice cream because he believes it promotes miscegenation. Bet money the only toppings he has are macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips, and the only flavors at Bumpy’s are vanilla, coconut, and cookies-and-cream with the cookies taken out.
James Mermigis, an attorney representing Elmendorf, told the Washington Post that he “categorically denies all of the allegations in the lawsuit.” Mermigis denied that Elmendorf said any of those things and added “I personally would never represent a racist if I thought they were a racist.”
Sometimes I just want to ask white people what exactly they do think is racist. They will really have a straight face while saying shit like, “Sure he called them the n-word, and threatened to kill them, but he’s not racist. He’s just passionate about not liking Black people. It’s totally different.”
As mentioned earlier, this whole situation popped off after racist texts allegedly sent by Elmendorf circulated on social media. The texts included multiple racial slurs and an admission by Elmendorf that he doesn’t “hire Black people.” Mermigis denies that his client sent those texts, because he’d be a bad defense attorney if he didn’t.
From the Washington Post:
On June 30, Black activists stood on the porch of a private house near Bumpy’s when Elmendorf used racist slurs while threatening the group with a baton and promising to come back with a gun, the lawsuit states.
Then Elmendorf allegedly called the police to falsely report a group of Black protesters were “hanging out in Section 8 housing” and had threatened to shoot him, according to the suit. Five police patrol cars came to the scene to interview protesters, but police left without making any arrests.
Later that day during another protest, Elmendorf menaced a crowd of about 50 peaceful protesters with a .22 caliber air rifle as he shouted racial slurs and threats, state officials said.
“I’ll run you over with my truck,” Elmendorf allegedly said using the n-word. “I hate you.”
Protesters fled the scene or sought cover, the suit states, as Elmendorf advanced with his rifle and yelled, “I’ll kill all of you monkeys.”
The situation resulted in Elmendorf being arrested and charged for menacing in the second degree. Elmendorf just couldn’t stop making things worse for himself, either. He was fined $10,000 for not following coronavirus restrictions and was ordered to shut down the shop. In October, he caught an assault charge after allegedly stabbing an investigator with a pen after being served legal documents.
This man is truly dedicated to not having any redeeming qualities. You hate to see it.
The New York Attorney General’s Office is seeking to prevent Elmendorf from having a weapon within 1,000 feet of any peaceful protests and wants him to pay a $500 fine for every instance he violated someone’s right to peaceful protest.
“Those who make racist and violent threats will be held accountable by my office with the full weight of the law,” James said in a statement. “The charges against David Elmendorf should serve as a warning that hate crimes will not be tolerated on my watch and we will not allow any individual to use the color of someone’s skin as a weapon.”