On Sat., Aug. 27, around 3 a.m., two men ate a meal at El Sombrero, the popular Dominican restaurant with Mexican-style home cooking, at 108 Stanton St. at the corner of Ludlow St. After eating, they left without paying their bill — a scam called “dine and dash.”
One of the cooks, Adolfo Batista, and a friend chased the men and caught up to them in front of 110 Stanton St., across the street from the open San Loco, another Mexican restaurant. But the dining delinquents got away and Batista ended up getting a serious beating. He was taken to the hospital and later released.
Clayton Patterson, who took the photo at right, said, “The block between Houston and Stanton St. is heavily patrolled. A patrol car parked at the corner of Houston stops all traffic from entering Ludlow. The police put two powerful klieg lights just north of Max Fish bar, which lights up the block like a Hollywood set. It is not unusual to see the Seventh Precinct captain himself sitting in a car on the block. But in this incident, no arrests were made. The thieves got away.”
