An off-duty NYPD cop and three male relatives attacked a black panhandler with a baseball bat outside a Long Island deli while spewing racial epithets, cops said yesterday.
Officer Juan NuÑez, 32, of Freeport, was suspended and arrested. Bail was set at $20,000 on assault and weapon charges.
Cops say that, at 8 a.m. Sunday in Roosevelt, he and deli workers José Vargas, 35, Persio Vargas, 53, and Kelvin Vargas, 24, demanded that Darryl Jackson stop begging near the store.
When Jackson, 52, refused to move, the four allegedly beat him with their fists, feet and the bat.
“The n-word was used. That will not be tolerated here in Nassau County,” said Police Commissioner James Mulvey.
None of the men has been charged with a bias crime, he said, because the attack “was not initially based on his race, creed or religion.”
But he added “the door is open” to possible bias charges.
Jackson was in stable condition. ..