SCHENECTADY — The onetime owner of the now-defunct Bumpy’s Polar Freeze will serve nine months in jail for pointing a pellet gun at two people who protested outside his business over allegations he used a racial slur and refused to hire Black people.
Schenectady City Court Judge Carl Falotico sentenced David Elmendorf on Monday afternoon, less than two months after Elmendorf pleaded guilty to counts of menacing, misdemeanors that stem from the 2020 altercation.
Sentencing was briefly delayed after Elmendorf’s attorney, Sam Iregobu, said he never received a copy of the pre-sentencing investigation and had to review it before Elmendorf could be sentenced. Falotico later noted the court had sent it to Iregobu’s email address.
Iregobu urged the judge to be merciful, saying his client pleaded guilty because he did not believe he could get a fair trial. Elmendorf did not offer any statement or apology for his actions.
Falotico noted the lack of contrition.
“But as your attorney alluded to, you only admitted your guilt in order to try to avoid the People’s offer of jail time and incarceration,” he said. “You’ve shown no remorse for your actions. You’ve given no indication at all that you understand why what you did was serious and what you did was wrong.”
Elmendorf also arrived at court unaware he would be taken into custody if sentenced to jail time. He tried to have the sentence postponed as he was being handcuffed, noting his car was parked outside and he still needed to make arrangements for care of his animals.
“I didn’t know this was going to occur today, I thought I would have time to turn myself in,” he told Falotico.
Earlier in February, Elmendorf pleaded guilty to two counts of harassment, a violation, for pushing and cursing at a Schenectady code enforcement officer, ordering the woman off his property…
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