Immigrant Acquitted of Assaulting Cop in Hempstead Restaurant

"No culpable!"

A Spanish interpreter whispered inside the hushed Mineola courtroom of Judge Christopher Quinn. It took less than 3 hours for 12 men and women to reach a verdict today on The People versus Balbino Cardoza.

Hempstead Village Police responded to a call from Santana, a restaurant on Franklin Avenue, just before midnight on April 29, 2023.Photo byC.J. Teevan

On Count 1, the Felony charge of assaulting a police officer last year inside Santana Restaurant in Hempstead, Long Island, the jury foreman declared: "Not Guilty."

Cardoza was also Not Guilty of resisting arrest.

It was the Latino immigrant's first brush with the criminal justice system, his sister said, the night of April 29, 2023, when he finished work at a professional cleaning service. He went to his favorite Hempstead night spot to relax with his friends.

Witnesses say he got drunk. And loud. And "disruptive".

Management asked him to leave, according to testimony. Cardoza declined, he testified himself. "I had to pay," he told the court through an interpreter on the witness stand, explaining why he didn't leave immediately. "I wanted to say goodbye to my friends," he said.

Management said they would call police. Cardoza testified, "I said, OK. I wait for police."

Hempstead Police testified that when they arrived, they explained to Cardoza that he had been asked to leave. Cardoza testified he was going leave -- after he told his friends goodnight and paid his tab.

The restaurant manager and part owner testified that she was so anxious for Cardoza to leave she told him not to worry about the tab -- "Just go." But in court, Cardoza said, "If I knew that, I probably would go."

How much of these communications Cardoza actually understood is unclear. What is clear is that the matter escalated very quickly.

Restaurant surveillance video shows a Hempstead police officer grab Cardoza's arm. The officer testified that this was their final effort to escort Cardoza out the door.

But suddenly, on video, Cardoza's right arm snaps "like a reflex", flailing, said his lawyer, George Michel IV. Cardoza's hand slapped the officer's face. It was all the cop's partner needed to begin the process of arresting a very inebriated patron who they all believed would not be persuaded to go.

Accordingly, the police officer prepared to handcuff Cardoza: He shoved him against the wall.

Except it wasn't a wall. It was the window. Cardoza and the police officer went flying out, shattering the glass, and landed on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. The officer was taken by ambulance and received stitches for cuts, including a lacerations where cut glass sliced his shoulder that needed stitches.

Cardoza, too, was injured.

Five criminal charges followed: Two Felonies for Assaulting a Police Officer and Criminal Mischief for smashing the glass window, and three Misdemeanors for Obstruction, Resisting Arrest, and Trespassing.

A Grand Jury later declined to indict Cardoza on the Felony Mischief charge.

The Obstruction and Trespassing convictions are Misdemeanors that carry a maximum one year sentence. Because it was Cardoza's first brush with the criminal justice system, it is unlikely he will see any jail time when he is sentenced by Judge Quinn next month.

Cardoza lives with his family on Park Avenue in New Hyde Park. According to his sister, who attended the trial, his son is serving in the U.S. Marines.

The Nassau County courthouse complex in Mineola, Long Island.Photo byC.J. Teevan