Former NY ice cream shop owner ordered to pay $4,500 to BLM protesters for false police report

A former New York ice cream shop owner accused of false reporting to police that Black Lives Matter protesters were threatening him has been ordered to pay each protester $500 for violating their civil rights. 

The ruling is the result of a suit brought against the owner – David Elmendorf – by New York Attorney General Letitia James, under a new state law that bans the filing of a false police report to intimidate an individual or individuals based on their race. 

Elmendorf, the former owner of Bumpy's Polar Freeze in Schenectady is accused of issuing multiple "armed" threats and using derogatory racist language against peaceful BLM protesters. Elmendorf's attorney called the accusations against his client "categorically false." 

The former business owner, who is now working in a different state, has been ordered to pay out a total of $4,500 to nine protesters on whom he called the police.

Demonstrators began protesting outside of his business last year after a series of text messages in which he had used racist language surfaced online. When the demonstrators arrived outside his business he allegedly "threatened a crowd of roughly 50 peaceful protestors with a .22-caliber air rifle," before calling the police to report that "20 armed protesters" were there threatening to shoot him.