Riverhead man critical after stabbing at Casa Rica

A Riverhead man is in critical condition at Stony Brook University Medical Center with multiple stab wounds after an early morning assault today at Casa Rica Restaurant and Sports Bar on East Main Street.

Elmer Mirand-Depaz, 28, of Flanders, was arrested and charged with 1st degree assault, Riverhead Police said. The weapon used in the assault was recovered at the scene, police said.

Police said they responded to a call at about 2 a.m. about an assault taking place at the bar. Officers found Hugo Alberto, 35, of Riverhead, lying on the ground to the rear of the building with multiple stab wounds to the abdominal area, according to the police report. The victim was treated on the scene by the Riverhead Town Volunteer Ambulance Corps and transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center, police said. He was subsequently taken to Stony Brook University Medical Center due to the extent of his injuries.. He is in critical condition, according to the report.

Casa Rica Restaurant and Sports Bar, which opened in 2009, has been the scene of at least two other violent attacks. A fight outside the bar in July 2009  led to an attack with a machete, seriously injuring a Flanders man. A Riverhead man was charged with 1st degree assault in that incident. Another assault took place there on May 16, according to police. A Southampton man was charged with 2nd degree assault in that attack.

The owner of the bar has been arrested twice in the past year for alleged violations of town codes, fire codes and state liquor authority regulations. The New York State Liquor Authority, which suspended the bar’s liquor license for 25 days after the bar owner entered a conditional no-contest plea in December to charges of serving alcohol to a minor in September 2009, has two additional license revocation hearings pending against the licensee, Poterillo’s Corp. A Sept. 29 hearing was adjourned to Dec. 3, according to an SLA spokesman.