The City of Pittsburgh has agreed to pay $170,001 to settle two federal lawsuits stemming from a 2018 brawl at Kopy’s Bar on the South Side. The settlement involves claims of injuries and wrongful actions by drunken undercover police officers who confronted members of the Pagans motorcycle club. City council approval is required to finalize the agreement.
The settlement allocates $100,001 to Michael Zokaites and $70,000 to the estate of Erik Heitzenrater, who died in 2022. Two additional lawsuits filed by Pagans members Frank Deluca and Bruce Thomas remain unresolved and are scheduled for trial next week before U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon.
Get in the Police Truck
On October 11-12, 2018, four undercover officers entered Kopy’s Bar around 7:30 p.m., posing as construction workers. Whether it was being undercover or the fake construction gig, the officers spent city money to tie one over. Hours later, they were raging with blood-alcohol levels ranging from 0.140% to 0.402%.
It’s hard not to listen to The Dead Kennedys’ “Police Truck” when watching the security footage of that night. To quote the Gospel of Prophet Jello Biafra:
Tonight’s the night that we got the truck
We’re going downtown, gonna beat up drunks
Your turn to drive, I’ll bring the beer
It’s the late, late shift, no one to fear
Members of the upstanding Pagans Motorcycle Club entered the bar around 11:30 p.m. just as detectives were tallying up the high scores of their drink count. According to acting referees at the Citizen Police Review Board, the final score was:
Detective Burgunder with 19 Drinks
Detective Honick with 13-15 Doubles on the Rocks.
Detective Martin with ‘at least’ 14 Drinks
Detective Lincoln, slacking, with approximately 7.
Much to Honick’s dismay, Burgunder won since drinks were counted by order number, not alcohol content. Even in lawlessness, you have to respect the sport.
In another sportsmanlike decision, undercover detectives decided the hell with bureau policy and revealed their identities to the motorized cycling enthusiasts. By 12:42 a.m., Pagans and police created a small and intimate mosh pit at Kopy’s Bar. The nearly three-minute affair had OC sprayed, fists thrown, and guns drawn.
According to the report, “Detective Lincoln, administered nineteen (19) and Detective Honick delivered 7 blows to Mr. Deluca’s head, who was physically restrained against the bar by Detective Burgunder; and the bar owner was not offered any medical assistance after being pepper sprayed.” Because if you’re going to use force, why not make it excessive?
We know this because of Kopy’s Law: Always give security footage to the press before police.
Former bar owner Stephen Kopy died in 2021 from COVID complications. However, I spoke to Kopy after the incident. He told me on South Side, police have a tendency to seize security camera footage and immediately lose it. When police informed him the footage they recovered had vanished, he responded, “That’s okay. Contact WTAE, I gave them a copy.”
Thanks to Kopy’s Law, the footage led to The Citizen Police Review Board issuing a fifteen page play-by-play report in 2021, ultimately concluding, “The conduct of these four Detectives betrayed their oath, badge, and the confidence of the public and members of the Bureau of Police.”
Over six years, and a new administration later, the City of Pittsburgh is looking past the black eye of that night with these settlements and upcoming court cases. Since then, policies have been implemented to prevent similar incidents. The City and the detectives remain defendants in the lawsuits. However, with both Heitzenrater and Kopy having passed away since the incident, some residents fear that justice delayed may be justice denied.