Saugerties Police arrested Edward M. Kovacs, 31, of Blue Hills Dr., Saugerties, and charged him with petit larceny.
Police responded to the area of Mirabella’s Restaurant on Partition St. Saturday, May 27 at 5:08 p.m. for a reported robbery. The complainant, a 22-year-old male, told officers another male confronted him and demanded his jacket, then went into the restaurant with it.
When officers entered Mirabella’s and began interviewing the bartender, Edward Kovacs, a patron in the establishment, stood up and informed officers that he took the jacket. According to Kovacs, he was sitting in Mirabella’s when he saw the other man walk by wearing the jacket. Having served in the military himself, Kovacs confronted the victim and asked if he had been in the military. Kovacs told police that he couldn’t understand what the man was saying and thought the man was possibly intoxicated. Kovacs said he told the victim to take the jacket off, and when that failed to elicit the desired response, he pulled the jacket off the victim and went back inside.
Kovacs told police that he thought the man was disrespecting the military and that was why he did what he did.
IN response to the bug shot who took the guy’s jacket. You better find out th facts before you act like a jerk. Anyone can wear a military jacket. It reminds me of when we went to a Ball game and my husband, who was in the army for 39 years, kept his hat on but saluted the flag during the national anthem. Some stupid man told him to take his hat off. You need some psychotherapy buddy.
what’s a “bug shot”?
you and your man are morons
Back in another century, in another country, people used to be able to tell other people what they could or couldn’t wear. Last time I looked, the US was still a country in which people are Free to dress as they please, even if it doesn’t please others. The self-righteous jerk who forcibly took this man’s jacket should be prosecuted for assault. If he is an example of “the military”, it’s no wonder people disrespect it.
This is JUST petit larceny. This was assault.
Stupid is as stupid does.
I have a jacket my father wore during the
Korean War. If this nimrod tried to take it from me, it would be a different outcome.
Sounds more like an assult. Picking on a person with a disability is a crime. Hopefully it’s treated appropriately.
It turns out that the assaulted person has a disability and the charge against the suspect should be more serious. He needs to be evaluated by a psychologist to determine whether this is a pattern that will be repeated. If he gets upset about a young man wearing a military uniform to celebrate Memorial Day he might get enraged at a woman in a pair of shorts or a man with a beard. Community service in nursing homes, a hospital or cleaning prison toilets might be the appropriate punishment for Mr. Kovacs if this is his first offense and he shows remorse at trial.
OMG, I just heard about this and am floored that this guy had the audacity to take this young man’s jacket away because he was offended? I happen to know this family, and that boy is sweet and kind, and loving. And he thought he was drunk, that’s his excuse for taking his jacket away? Really dude, you’re the one in the bar! He needs punishment, real punishment. He needs to be in jail. If he gets a slap on the wrist, then these cops aren’t doing their job. He belongs in jail.