Lawsuit: Manhattan Burger King Has Become ‘Open-Air Drug Bazaar’

Brazen acts of crime have become commonplace across the United States in recent years, 

particularly in big cities led by leftist Democratic officials. 

One recent example involves a Burger King location on Fulton Street, just a short distance from New York City Hall in Manhattan. According to one local resident who is filing a lawsuit against the fast-food franchise, the restaurant has become a hotbed of flagrant drug deals with a handful of “professional drug dealers” essentially using the location as their headquarters. 

Kevin Kaufman, who has lived in the neighborhood for about two decades, complained that the area has become “an open-air drug bazaar” due to the permissive attitude of the restaurant’s operators. 

“We’ve reached out to every direction we can and the only ones that seem to be responsive and listening are the cops,” he said. “Cops are doing everything they can to get rid of these people, but they’re handcuffed.”

Kaufman pointed to the policies of soft-on-crime progressive prosecutors for exacerbating the problem. 

“It’s this idiotic bail reform,” he said. “They have arrested a couple of people, but they are back within 24 hours.”

Since the beginning of last year, 911 dispatchers have received at least 143 calls related to the location, and Kaufman said as many as 10 drug dealers are using the business as their “base of operation, selling illegal drugs either at the entrance … or during inclement weather, selling illegal drugs within the Burger King restaurant itself.”

The New York Post conducted its own investigation of the restaurant and published a list of incidents its reporters observed — including a group of individuals “posted up outside the door” and blocking entry to the restaurant for several hours. At least one was seen accepting cash from a passerby in exchange for a package that “may have been drugs” while others drank liquor or “smoked a series of fat joints” in public. 

NYC Burger King hit with $15M suit, accused of allowing ‘open air drug bazaar’ run by ‘professional’ dealers https://t.co/rfyK8xal0T pic.twitter.com/HgOezAji5u

— New York Post (@nypost) March 17, 2024

Kaufman, whose lawsuit is seeking $15 million from the restaurant’s operator, is not the only local fed up with the situation.

One nearby resident explained that the business “is never busy” and is only ever occupied by vagrants or drug dealers. 

“This is around the corner from the mayor,” the individual said. “His office is right there, and it’s like, dude, clean up your neighborhood.”