Burger King is facing a $15 million lawsuit over an alleged “outdoor drug bazaar” operating out of its New York City restaurants.
Kevin Kaufman, who has lived in the fast-food restaurant block of City Hall for 20 years, claimed in the Manhattan newspaper that “professional drug dealers” are using the local Burger King as a “hub” to sell illegal drugs. The Supreme Court stated: according to to the New York Post.
“We’ve reached out to all sorts of sources, but the only one who seems willing to respond and listen is the police,” Kaufman said, according to the newspaper. “The police are doing everything they can to remove these people, but they are handcuffed. This stupid bail reform. I did.”
New York City’s Burger King faces $15 million lawsuit for allowing ‘outdoor drug bazaar’ run by ‘professional’ dealers https://t.co/rfyK8xal0T pic.twitter.com/HgOezAji5u
— New York Post (@nypost) March 17, 2024
According to the New York City Police Department (NYPD), two people have been arrested and 143 911 calls have been made in connection with the restaurant since January 1, 2023.
A group of eight men and one woman reportedly blocked the doors of a fast-food restaurant on Tuesday, leaving certain people alone while about a dozen customers ate burgers and fries and watched from inside. I was able to enter the store. The New York Post reports that members of the group have been seen extorting money from potential drug dealers. (Related: Federal authorities rule on McDonald’s lawsuit over repair of broken ice cream machine)
Members of the same group were seen wandering by the Burger King on Thursday, fighting and shouting, the newspaper said. One man received a subpoena and yelled at two officers, “They work for Biden. They work for Biden. They work for Biden.” Get out of here,” the outlet said.
Evan Gilman, who lives near the Burger King, said the group had been at the restaurant “all day” and “nobody was going in there to eat.” Another resident, who requested anonymity, told the outlet that the only people at Burger King were “poor people, homeless people or people selling drugs.”
Kaufman said the neighborhood was “very quiet” when she first moved in. The complainant told the outlet that now “crazy people are screaming and screaming every night.” His lawsuit accuses Burger King restaurants and the chain’s corporate headquarters of violating New York City’s private nuisance law, the newspaper reported.
“I want to leave on my terms, not theirs,” Kaufman said.
