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Long Island’s David Cruz, age 32, of Medford, was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter in Suffolk County Court on Monday, April 24, in the death of Jake Scott.
Cruz was working as a bouncer at Tailgaters Bar in Holbrook on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, when he got into an argument with Scott shortly before 3 a.m., according to the Suffolk County DA’s Office.
Witnesses testified that Cruz was upset because Scott had called him a “weirdo” earlier in the evening.
Aware of the building’s exterior surveillance camera, Cruz repeatedly attempted to lure Scott out of the camera’s view, prosecutors said.
After failing to do so, Cruz was captured on video removing his shirt and using it to cover the camera.
With the camera's view now obstructed, and seemingly unaware of another security camera at a nearby business that would capture the attack, the 6-foot-5, 270 pound Cruz unleashed a series of brutal punches on Scott, according to prosecutors.
Video shows him delivering the first punch as Scott stands up from a chair, knocking him onto a sidewalk.
It then shows Cruz getting on top of Scott and repeatedly punching him in the head, eventually knocking him unconscious.
“When Scott lay motionless and unconscious on the ground, the defendant grabbed the victim’s shirt and pulled him up with it yelling at him to get up,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement.
“When Scott didn’t respond, the defendant dropped him back to the ground and delivered a final blow to the victim’s head before fleeing the scene.”
Scott was placed in a medically induced coma at Stony Brook Hospital, where doctors discovered that he had suffered a brain bleed, a complete skull fracture, and a traumatic brain injury.
He died from his injuries over a week later, on Thursday, Sept. 1.
Cruz surrendered to police the day after the attack, before Scott died, on a charge of second-degree assault.
“This defendant’s job as a bouncer was to protect patrons of the establishment he worked for, and to remove anyone who posed a threat to customers, but it turned out that the only threat to the public on the night of this victim’s tragic death, was the defendant himself,” Tierney said.
“This entire situation could have been de-escalated, but the defendant could not control his temper and beat Jake Scott so badly that he needed to be placed into a coma and later died due to the severity of his injuries.
Cruz now faces up to 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced on Thursday, May 25.
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