NEW DORP — A New Jersey man with a long rap sheet was arrested Tuesday after he beat a relative unconscious inside an Applebee's bathroom, police said.
The 49-year-old old victim went into the restroom of the restaurant at 450 New Dorp Lane on June 23 when Robert Meyer, 45, started to attack him at about 11 p.m., the NYPD said.
The beating caused the victim to lose consciousness and suffer cuts and swelling to his head. He was taken to Staten Island University Hospital North with non-life threatening injuries, police said.
Meyer was related to the victim but it was unclear how, authorities said.
Police arrested Meyer, of Keyport, N.J., on Tuesday and he was charged with assault and harassment at his arraignment, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.
His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meyer has been arrested 21 times since 1999, including for assault, but most of the cases are sealed, a spokeswoman for the NYPD said. He also spent less than a year in prison for attempted burglary in 1990, according to the Department of Corrections.