In happier times

In case you missed it while you were out last night, Spec posted a late-night story about 1020 getting fined for serving an underage, undercover police recruit.  The underage recruit stopped by around 7 pm yesterday and cops came by later to serve the charge.  A little after opening today, Bwog stopped by 1020 to talk to bartender Tim–who is understandably pissed as shit.

It was a manipulative sting operation that Tim finds despicable and, to him, pointed out “everything that’s bad about cops.”  The police recruit they sent in, as noted in the Spec article, was six and a half feet tall with a beard.  Moreover, he was a big, intimidating looking guy that you wouldn’t want to offend.  “He looked like he was thirty-five,” Tim shook his head.

When told there was a Spectator article about the incident, he stormed out to get a copy at V&T’s, where he told the story to the hosts.  They asked if there was a bouncer out, but it was too early in the evening.  Back at the bar, Tim read through the article several times on a phone–the story didn’t make it to print today–and pounded his fist.  1020 was fined $1,500, but they intend to fight it.  When NYPD came back last night, Tim asked if they had seen the recruit.  He said he would take the case to court and specifically request the man be present as evidence of how ridiculous the situation was.

This isn’t the first time 1020 has run into trouble.  In March 2009, they were hit by another sting operation and in April 2011 a bunch of students were caught with fakes in several bars in the area.  Seems like this even-numbered bar has a problem with odd-numbered years.  We can only wish them the best.