|
Mahuffer's on the Air:
See what HGTV Home
and Garden television writes about Mahuffer's. Televised several times around the world on
Extreme Homes.
 
ABC WFTS Channel 28 Tampa Bay Taste Tour,
 Aired
8-6-01 & 8-7-01
Click here to see
the video
You need 
Hitting officer with paper ball shouldn't merit arrest, jury says
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 7, 1998
 ARGO -- John Susor's attorney crumpled a small piece of paper and
placed it on the lectern before the jury. A large photo of Susor's battered face sat
there, too.
"This," attorney Douglas de Vlaming told jurors as he first pointed to the
picture, then to the paper, "doesn't make sense, given that."
On Wednesday, six jurors agreed.
Jurors deliberated for 90 minutes before finding the controversial Indian Shores bar
owner innocent of charges of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest with violence
and criminal mischief.
Prosecutors had accused the 78-year-old of battering an officer -- a felony -- by
hitting an Indian Shores officer in the head with a crumpled piece of paper thrown in a
tirade.
Susor, injured as police arrested him, said the charges were proof yet again that
Indian Shores police are continually harassing him.
"Somewhere along the line, those police have to stop these sort of
shenanigans," Susor said after the verdict. "It's good to live in a place where
you can get justice. I just hope this stops them once and for all."
Afterward, juror Jerry Lewis of Pinellas Park said the panel agreed the arrest was
unjustified.
"Throwing a harmless piece of paper in a policeman's face is certainly
disrespectful," Lewis said. "But it shouldn't be a felony."
It all started with a beef about parking.
Alfredo Conversi's restaurant, El Lido, is next door to Susor's bar, Mahuffer's.
Conversi thinks Susor and his customers hog all the public parking along Gulf Boulevard.
Both admit harboring ill feelings toward one another.
On Jan. 25, 1997, Conversi said he saw Susor scratching the side panel of his rental
van. He called police to investigate.
Two Indian Shores officers testified they tried to visit Susor at Mahuffer's, an
unusual bistro where customers can order a sandwich called "road kill pelican"
while listening to the guitar singer named "Tumbleweed Ted."
When Susor wouldn't come out to talk, Sgt. Leo Yates, wrote a message on the back of a
receipt indicating that prosecutors would investigate.
After officers stepped outside to investigate an illegally parked motor home -- where
Tumbleweed Ted lived -- Susor came out in a rage, they said. He tossed the paper at them,
hitting Yates.
The officers said they struggled to arrest him. Susor, they said, tried to grab one of
their guns. Susor sustained injuries during the arrest. Susor told jurors officers beat
him.
Susor, a former Indian Shores mayoral candidate, acknowledged in testimony that he was
mad, though he said it was only because officers left the note and never talked to him. He
also admitted throwing the paper, though he said it never hit Yates.
He denied vandalizing Conversi's van.
As he walked out of the courthouse, Susor said he would return to his beloved bar,
where he testified "one of my traits is that the customer is never right."
Susor said he will throw the biggest party Indian Shores has seen in years.
If he had been convicted of a felony, he probably would have lost his liquor license
for Mahuffer's, which serves as both his business and home.
Now the license is safe. And at least on Wednesday night, Susor said, the beer will
flow freely for one group.
His attorneys.
Bar owner sues town, claiming false arrest
The suit says the use of force by Indian Shores police officers led to injuries.
By JOE NEWMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 2, 1999
Bar owner John Susor is taking on the town of Indian Shores once again, this time in a
federal suit that accuses two police officers of violating his civil rights during a 1997
arrest that left Susor in the hospital for two days.
The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, accuses the officers of false arrest
and using excessive force. Susor, 80, says he's still recovering from injuries he received
during his arrest on charges of battery on a police officer, resisting arrest with
violence and criminal mischief.
"I'm sitting here moaning right now," said Susor, who was found innocent of
the charges by a jury.
Police scuffled with Susor in January 1997 after he threw a wadded piece of paper at
them. Susor told the officers they could "insert the note in a specific part of their
anatomy," the suit says. The police had come to Susor's bar investigating a vandalism
complaint.
Among the injuries Susor suffered during the arrest were a hole in his lower intestine,
torn rotator cuffs in his shoulders and injuries to his head, back and neck, the suit
says.
Susor, owner of Mahuffer's, said he is seeking millions of dollars in damages.
Indian Shores Mayor Bob McEwen said town officials were expecting Susor's suit.
"Being accused by him is like being called ugly by a frog," McEwen said.
Bar owner loses civil suit, but is satisfied
St. Petersburg Times; St.
Petersburg, Fla.; Oct 28, 2001; AMY WIMMER;
The score is now even between the town and John Susor, the Ernest Hemingway look-alike who
advertises his restaurant as having "the worst food on the beech."
A federal jury on Thursday ruled in Indian Shores' favor in a lawsuit that Susor filed
in 1999. Susor accused police officers of violating his civil rights during a 1997 arrest
that left Susor in the hospital for two days.
The bar owner already won in criminal court; now the city has won the civil case.
"I have no malice," Susor said Friday. "I won one, and I lost one.
That's all I can say."
The 1997 incident that produced the lawsuit remains the most infamous between the town
and Susor, an 82-year-old cantankerous barkeeper and occasional political candidate.
The trouble started when Susor threw a paper wad at Sgt. Leo Yates and Officer George
Ruppert.
The officers had stopped by Susor's restaurant, Mahuffer's Bar, to question him about a
vandalism complaint. While they were dealing with a separate incident in front of the bar,
Susor threw the piece of paper at them and, in the words of his lawsuit, told the officers
they could "insert the note in a specific part of their anatomy."
"They tried to take him down, but John fought like he normally does," police
Chief E.D. Williams said at the time.
Susor sustained a number of injuries in the scuffle, including a hole in his lower
intestine, torn rotator cuffs in his shoulders, and injuries to his head, back and neck,
according to the lawsuit he filed.
Also injured was Ruppert, one of the officers, who later filed for disability, the
police chief said. Yates, the other officer involved, still works for the Indian Shores
Police Department.
Susor, 77 at the time of the tussle, wore a neck brace for his mugshot at the Pinellas
County Jail. He was charged with resisting arrest with violence, assault on a law
enforcement officer, unlawful attempt to take a law enforcement officer's gun and
attempted use of a firearm.
"This is all political," he said at the time. "They're just trying to
shut me up."
Susor eventually was found innocent of all charges, a fact that brings him solace.
"I, personally, am satisfied with winning the first battle," he said Friday.
He said he believes the city police would like to see him convicted of a felony to put
his liquor license in jeopardy.
Susor, who has lived in Indian Shores for more than 40 years, frequently has run for
Town Council. His dogs and cats freely roam Mahuffer's, and his home is attached to the
restaurant.
Susor said he was upset the city did not try to negotiate with him before he formally
filed the lawsuit.
But the police chief said that multiple efforts to mediate through the courts failed.
Still, the relationship between Susor and the town has calmed during the years since
his arrest, town officials say. They believe advice from attorneys had something to do
with that.
"It's been the best five years of my life," Williams said.
Susor said he is unsure why he and the city don't spar like they used to.
"I walk like an old man," said Susor, rising from his chair to demonstrate.
"I can't walk right because my feet hurt, but they're scared of me."
VILLAIN OR VICTIM? BAR KEEPER AND EX-BOOKIE JOHN
SUSOR AGAIN IS TAKING ON LOCAL POLICE. BUT THE STAKES ARE GETTING HIGHER.
Article in
Florida Travel Magazine, January/February 2001 issue
  
| 
