The Bocce Ball court in New Hyde Park was closed from Oct. 18 to Oct. 22 after some residents said they heard “disturbing language.”
Chris Devane, the mayor of New Hyde Park, received a complaint about an incident at the park on Oct. 12, alleging that there was a group of middle-aged men playing bocce ball and yelling misogynistic and racist comments. The complaint said parents and children who were near the court likely heard the “disturbing language.”
Also in the complaint, the resident said they made a “playful and respectful retort” and were told “up yours,” followed by vulgar language.
“I have investigated this incident and two additional adult witnesses that were in the playground corroborated this encounter,” Devane said in an Instagram post. “There is zero tolerance for this type of behavior in our park.”
Diane Bentivegna, a member of the New Hyde Park Bocce Club, said nobody at the club was contacted about this incident. She said as a taxpayer who pays for this public facility, she is upset that the court was shut down for a few days.
“No member, and we polled all the members who were there that day and the entire membership, said this ever happened,” Bentivegna said.
Bentivegna said people were commenting on Devane’s Instagram post in support of the club. She claimed that because of those comments, Devane shut down commenting on that post.
Devane said people were making comments that were inappropriate and this incident was not up for debate.
“The complaint was made by a 28-year village resident and her husband, so we have two adults and then there was independent corroboration of that where people reached out to me that were in the children’s playground who were disturbed by the incident,” Devane said. “They were two different adults, unrelated to each other and unrelated to the person making the complaint.”
In an email, Bentivegna said Devane’s actions, including his decision to close the comments, show disregard for due process, free speech and the reputation of the club.
“I don’t believe that this justifies a full-scale trial,” Devane said. “I’m an attorney. I’m aware of what due process is, but this is a court on a park. This is not owned by the bocce group. There’s no exclusive use of that park.”
Devane said the park has a code of conduct that was violated. He said he doesn’t believe in elementary punishment where everyone gets punished, but because people allegedly sat idly by and “allowed it to happen,” the park had to be closed.
“What we’re trying to do is say, ‘listen, we need to be better than this and we are better than this’,” Devane said. “And we didn’t uphold that standard on that particular day and there needs to be repercussions.”
Devane said at the end of his Instagram post that by closing the park, the individuals who perpetrated this incident and the silent cohorts might take time to “look in the mirror and see the problem.”
