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Chief: NYS Liquor Authority notified three times about Royal Dorado

Royal Dorado

A series of incidents outside an East Main Street bar has led to beefed up Riverhead Town police patrols and calls by the town for it to be shut down.

An altercation early Sunday morning outside Royal Dorado Deli & Restaurant resulted in injuries, the second such incident in a week.

A similar incident occurred Aug. 22 at the bar, which had been shut down last year on a temporary zoning technicality after multiple violent incidents, according to Supervisor Sean Walter. It reopened in September 2015.

“They’ve earned themselves a lot of extra police protection,” Mr. Walter said. “I’ve instructed the police department to put a police officer in a sector car at their front door at certain designated times.”

Mr. Walter said the town is urging the New York State Liquor Authority to shut down the bar by revoking its liquor license.

“They are a scourge on our society and the place needs to be shut down,” the supervisor said. “Unfortunately, the SLA works very slowly.”

Additional arrests were made outside the Royal Dorado Sunday, police said. Two women were charged with second-degree harassment, a violation, after witnesses said they attacked a woman in a car outside the business, according to police. That incident occurred about half an hour before the assault.

“It’s been pretty busy there of late,” said Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller. “We’ve had seven reported incidents there since the end of May, and the last three were referred to the State Liquor Authority.”

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Photo credit: Barbaraellen Koch / August 2016