Trouble at the Tree Bar

[Bobcat]

Rossi fights to keep his wife's seat
BY GWEN FILOSA Citizen Staff
gfilosa@keysnews.com
Nobody takes City Commissioner Mark Rossi's barstool -- or the one reserved for his wife.

Police broke up a shoving match-turned-scuffle outside a Duval Street bar that began when a tourist tried to swipe a chair already claimed by Rossi's wife, according to reports.

"He has no idea who he is dealing with," Rossi told officers who arrived at Rick's Bar, 202 Duval St, Friday night.

The incident took place at the Tree Bar, which is right at the entrance to the entertainment complex owned by Rossi, a familiar sight at the Duval Street bar during the weekends.

"Rossi said a white male attempted to take his wife's stool," Officer Michael Andruzzi wrote. "Rossi said there was no way anyone was going to take his wife's stool."

Rossi is married to Dr. Teri Beers Rossi, a psychiatrist.

Three police officers were nearby, on event security detail for the power boat races Friday night, when they heard someone shout, "Fight!"

Outside Rick's was a large crowd surrounding three men "actively shoving one another and screaming in one another's' faces," Officer Thomas Clark reported.

Clark recognized Rossi as one of the three, later identified as Devin Markowitz, 47, of Landing, N.J., and Greg Sullivan, 56, the Florida Keys manager of Waste Management.

No arrests were made or serious injuries reported.

Markowitz, listed in the police report at standing 6-foot-2-inches and 236 pounds, and Rossi separately told officers the other one started the shoving. It took a Taser stun gun placed on the tourist's chest to calm him down, Detective Kevin O'Connell wrote in one of four police reports released Monday.

Markowitz was given a trespass warning on Rossi's request to police.

Officers arrived at about 9:04 p.m. Friday to find "numerous individuals pushing each other," O'Connell wrote.

One man was being held down on the ground by a Rick's employee and Sullivan.

Sullivan was holding Markowitz's foot "and he appeared to be twisting Markowitz's toe," O'Connell's report stated.

Reached Monday, Sullivan denied he was holding the stranger's toe, as stated in two of the four police reports filed.

"I think I was holding part of his leg," Sullivan said. "I'm not a karate guy or anything like that. He was flailing around. There were wives and ladies present."

O'Connell announced police were on the scene, then activated his Taser stun gun and placed it on Markowitz's chest, "telling him to calm down."

Markowitz complied and officers picked him up off the ground and walked him over to Charles Street, where he said he had asked a woman at the bar if anyone was using the empty barstool next to her and she said "no."

"Markowtiz stated as he was starting to move the chair he was attacked, and the next thing he knew he was on the ground being held down and someone was twisting his toe," O'Connell wrote.

Officers reviewed security camera video from the front of Rick's but none of the incident had been captured. "The event was just outside of the camera's view," O'Connell wrote.

Markowitz told police he was getting the barstool for a 75-year-old man he was with at the bar.

After asking a woman by the barstool if it was O.K., Markowitz says he lifted the chair when "a large guy with gray hair started to shove him and yell at him," police reported.

"Markowitz said he shoved the man back as they were in close proximity to each other," Officer Andruzzi wrote. "Markowitz said he was quickly taken to the ground by bar staff until police officers arrived."

Neither Rossi nor Markowitz wanted to pursue criminal charges, police said, and neither appeared to be drunk.

Markowtiz "told me he just wanted to leave," Andruzzi noted.

Markowitz, who runs the Arbor Barber tree service in Roxbury, N.J., did not return a voicemail left on his cell phone Monday.

On Monday, Rossi said his wife had gotten up to hug a friend when Markowitz walked up and grabbed the barstool she had just left.

"I grabbed the stool and said, you're not taking this," Rossi said. "He said, 'Oh, yeah, I am.' I said, 'No you're not.'"

Rossi said it wasn't a big deal, but did not deny he was not about to let someone take his wife's chair.

"Not in my bar," he said Monday.

gfilosa@keysnews.com

[Slandrew]

I noticed a lot of that stuff this year They cuffed a muscle beach guy in front of Hog breath saloon for pissing on a bikers motorcycleHe may have whipped his ass also

[Ratickle]

I think it was too close to Fantasy Fest this year. Some of the crazies stayed.....

[fund razor]

Yeah, and some live there all year round.

[Ratickle]

I wonder if Bobcat knows any of them????

[Pete B]

bobcat is one of them

[Wrinkleface]

Yeah, and some live there all year round.

Nail/head