Man Sues Black Tap Milk Bar Claiming Race-Based Hate Crime

CHELSEA, NY — A white man is suing over-the-top milkshake purveyor Black Tap after a black security guard punched him at the now defunct Chelsea location — calling the incident a racially-motivated assault, reported Eater.

Danforth Irwin is suing Black Tap, owner Joe Isidori, the security firm A.J. Melino & Associates and the company that owned the 248 West 14th Street location, 248 Hospitality, for physical and emotional damages over the 2017 incident, the food website reported.

Irwin claims on Aug. 5 that he tried to score a seat at the bar of the popular milkshake and burger chain, for which lines form down the block to get in, when he was told the chair he was eying was reserved for the security guard's friends, according to legal documents obtained by Eater.

Soon after a security guard invaded his “personal space and aggressively berated him for no reason whatsoever" and caused him to fear for his safety, Irwin claims. He tried to snap a photo of the empty bar seat with his phone when the guard allegedly attacked him and "threw Irwin with force out of the restaurant,” the suit reads, Eater reported.

After booting Irwin from the bar, the security guard "beat Irwin on the left side of his face" while stating, “today I lost my job because of you” and “why do you have to put a black man out on the street?” the complaint alleges. Legal documents obtained by Eater claim that the guard was "verbally abusing" Irwin "based on his race."

It is unclear if the security guard had been fired at the time of the incident.

Police arrested the guard and charged him with assault in the third degree. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and avoided jail time. Instead, he was fined $95 for the scuffle, the food website reported.

The guard was not convicted of a hate crime, but Irwin argues that the beating was actually a “race-based assault” and legally classifies as a hate crime, which would make the bar liable since the guard was an employee there.

In a statement to Eater, Black Tap emphasized that it "did not operate or manage” the Chelsea location at the time of the incident and does not "condone this behavior."

Black Tap was at the center of a $25 million lawsuit where the Chelsea operators claimed Isidori cut them out of the profits from the viral, milkshake creations. The suit was settled in June for undisclosed terms. The Chelsea location closed shortly after.

A New York City location of the over-the-top milkshake and burger chain Black Tap. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)