An NYPD cop, on active duty as a Marine reservist, was suspended from the police force yesterday after his arrest for getting into chair-throwing free-for-all outside a California hotel, authorities said.
Officer Efrain Santiago, from the 26th Precinct in Manhattan, was charged with assault after Sunday’s early-morning melee at the Hyatt Hotel in Palm Springs.
The violence was sparked by an incident earlier in the night when another Marine got into a fight with an unidentified man in his 20s near the hotel. After their fight, the Marine went to the hotel where he enlisted about 12 fellow Marines, including Santiago, to take on the man and seven of his pals.
The Marines grabbed two knives and a bunch of hotel chairs and tackled the eight men outside the hotel, police said.
Steven Emas, 20, suffered a large cut to his head, Ryan Horn, 21, a bump on his head and Jeremy Patton, a 9-inch slash wound to his back, authorities said.