Police Negligent as Homeless Get Violent, Cafe Manager Says

The manager of a year-old location of Manhattan-based Think Coffee is speaking out against a group of homeless people that he sees as a threat to his customers and employees.

Patron enjoying coffee at Think Coffee, Eighth Ave. Facebook photo.

Matt Fury has told several local news outlets that he’s had to call police to his Chelsea shop at Eighth Avenue and 14th Street after homeless people have occasionally turned violent, throwing chairs and attacking patrons to the point that ambulances have been called.

Fury is also speaking out about what he sees as a lack of police response to the dozens of 911 calls he’s placed. Here’s more from the New York Post:

“We opened a year ago and the problems started immediately, where different people who hang out on the corner started asking for ice, asking for cups,” Fury said.

“But as we became less tolerant they became more aggressive about not wanting to leave,” he added. “We are really surprised at how often the [911] calls were just not answered. I went to the precinct and the cop at the desk showed me the list of 19 unanswered calls.”

Several patrons and homeless people have been taken away in ambulances, according to Fury.

“One time the police officer said he would arrest me if I didn’t stop bothering him,” he charged.

Questioned in the matter, police had a different take, with one local officer telling DNA Info that they’ve been hitting the area “pretty hard:”

Sixth Precinct police said they regularly issue summonses at 14th Street and Eighth Avenue for aggressive panhandling, alcohol consumption and public urination.

“We’ve been hitting them pretty hard,” the precinct’s commanding officer, Deputy Inspector Brandon del Pozo said.

He told Fury police could potentially get trespass affidavits against regular troublemakers so they would be banned from entering Think.

The most recent attack at the West Village Think location occurred Tuesday night around 10 p.m., when a man who appeared homeless shoved a female manager when she attempted to stop him from making a beeline to the shop’s restroom.

Think operates five locations in New York and one in Seoul, offering numerous single-source coffees resulting from direct relationships with farms.