Lawyer: 'Didn't Point Gun' At Client

Pierre Bazile  Photo/SCPD

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

 Lawyers of a Huntington-based law office have claimed that one of their own, defense attorney Pierre Bazile, did not point a handgun at one of his clients Monday afternoon, when Suffolk police swarmed to East Carver Street on a report of an armed subject.

Suffolk police claim otherwise.

According to police, Bazile, 46, of Huntington Station, an attorney with The Law Offices Of Christopher J. Cassar, got into an argument with a 32-year-old male client at around 12:15 p.m., pointed a 9mm handgun at him and ordered him to leave.

Police said they recovered the handgun at the scene, arrested Bazile and charged him with second-degree menacing. They added that no one was injured in the incident, and that Bazile was released from police custody after he posted bail at the Second Precinct.

However, in a news release issued by the law office Tuesday night, Bazile claims he was concerned for his safety and the safety of office staffers after the argument escalated and the client, Rashamel Palmer, became “aggressive” and refused to leave after several requests.

A call to 911 was made and Bazile, a retired police officer and pistol permit holder, “removed his licensed pistol and placed it on the side of his leg, with the pistol pointed down at the floor, and finger off the trigger,” according to the news release, which adds that Palmer, who was with his girlfriend Arlene, then agreed to leave the office.

The release also claims that Bazile did not point the pistol at anyone during the exchange, and that lawyers of the office are “confident that, upon a fair and thorough investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the matter involving Mr. Bazile will be dismissed.”

A spokeswoman for the DA’s office did not immediately return a request for comment before deadline Wednesday.

No charges had been filed against Palmer nor his girlfriend as of deadline Wednesday.