A narcotics officer was arrested Friday for apparently shooting up a Brooklyn bar after female patrons ignored his increasingly aggressive attempts to speak to them. According to witnesses, Stephen Abreu, 31, an investigator with the Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor, approached Ana Yamel, 32, at the Williamsburg bar Horses & Divorces and followed her back to her table, where she was sitting with friends. He then allegedly picked up an orange from a nearby basket and threw it in their direction, smashing a glass. After the bartender asked Abreu to leave, the officer allegedly punched him in the face, pulled out his handgun, and fired two shots inside the premises before being wrestled to the ground by a bouncer. No injuries were reported.
“The fact he is a law enforcement officer is horrifying to us... there is no way this person should be in a position of power over other people,” Annie Pearlman, 31, a friend of Yamel’s, told Gothamist. Abreu, who is also listed as a board trustee for the NYC Detective Investigators Association, has been suspended from his position pending an investigation. He faces charges including felony attempted murder and reckless endangerment in the first degree. He was released on Friday without bail.
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