Hours before he was brought in for questioning yesterday in the killing of Imette St. Guillen, the bouncer at a SoHo bar placed a dramatic call to the Daily News to complain that cops were "harassing" him.
The Falls bar bouncer, Darryl Littlejohn, insisted he didn't do anything to the gorgeous graduate student - but said police were making him nervous by following him and suggested he was being eyed because he is black.
"I have nothing to hide," said the 41-year-old bouncer. "If they get off my back, I'd be happy to talk to them."
Littlejohn chatted with a News reporter at the bar Saturday, insisting that he barely remembered seeing St. Guillen walk into the predawn darkness the night she was killed.
At precisely 10:51 a.m. yesterday, he called back to ask if the reporter wanted to hear more about the case.
"They're harassing me," he said. "I understand they have to do a thorough investigation, but you're talking about people who weren't even there."
Littlejohn said cops followed him home on the subway to Queens when he left the bar on Lafayette St. after its 4 a.m. closing yesterday.
He said the detectives stood out like sore thumbs among the kids headed home from clubs and bar workers on the subway at that hour.
"Anyone who's seen two TV shows could figure it out -- they were cops," Littlejohn said. "A child could figure it out."
Two plainclothes cops were parked outside his home in Queens yesterday morning, the bouncer said.
"I'm outside looking at them right now," Littlejohn told The News, describing their SUVs.
Then he asked the cops if they were looking for him and told them he was going to the corner store.
"Do you want anything?" he said he asked one of the cops.
Littlejohn said he believes the police are zeroing in on him because of his race. Most of the other workers at the bar are white.
He complained that the cops kept asking him the same questions over and over again - whether he has a car or a van, for instance - apparently in hopes of catching him in a lie.
"I'm not taking away what happened to this lady and not to play the race card, but you are singling out the only black guy," Littlejohn said.
Seconds later, the bouncer said he had to go. But he promised to call the reporter again to continue offering his side of the story.
"Do you still want to talk to me?" Littlejohn asked. "Am I going to see this in the paper tomorrow?"
Originally published on March 6, 2006
