By Dianna Cahn
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
BOCA RATON, Fla. — A Boca Raton police officer is under investigation for his involvement in a bar “disturbance,” police said Friday.
Officer Ross Magedoff was suspended with pay Thursday after the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office informed the Boca Police Department that they were investigating his actions at the Porterhouse Bar and Grill on Palmetto Park Road near Powerline Road.
The investigation stems from allegations by another man, Scott Schaaf, who claimed the two got into an argument at the bar and then the off-duty officer donned a uniform and brandished a gun. A restaurant manager, however, said that the incident never got out of hand and “no gun was ever taken out.”
A police department statement said Magedoff was placed on administrative leave while the Sheriff’s Office investigates.
“The Boca Raton Police Department takes all allegations of officer misconduct seriously,” the statement said, “and we will conduct a thorough internal investigation into this matter.”
Magedoff could not be reached for comment Friday, but Dave Skrabec, a spokesman for the police union, said he would not comment until the investigations are complete. Schaaf, 24, of Boca Raton, spoke through his lawyer Richard Della Fera.
The incident occurred late Wednesday or early Thursday morning at the bar located in the sheriff’s jurisdiction west of Boca Raton.
Schaaf said he was at the bar and started joking with another patron who got angry and told Schaaf he was a police officer, Della Fera said. He said his client jokingly asked to see the man’s badge and the officer grabbed him. Staff then dragged the officer from the bar, Della Fera said.
Schaaf said the man returned an hour later, this time in uniform, and told him he was going to jail for a battering a police officer, Della Fera said. He said the officer pulled out his gun before he put it back in the holster and told Schaaf to “Get the hell out of here,” Della Fera said.
Sal Scala, a manager at Porterhouse, said the initial altercation happened just as the restaurant was closing and no one ever touched the other person.
“I saw them arguing. I went over and separated them,” Scala said.
Scala said the officer, who was not in uniform at the time, then left the bar. But Scala declined to comment on whether the officer returned because it was still under investigation.
“Nobody threatened Scott with a gun,” he said.
Copyright 2008 The South Florida Sun-Sentinel