NYC Doctor Banned From Nursing Home For Showing Black Security Guard Picture Of Monkey: Union

EAST HARLEM, MANHATTAN — A doctor has been banned from an East Harlem nursing home for showing a black security guard a picture of a monkey when asked for a photo ID, according to a union representing the guard. The doctor says the card is a joke that he's kept for 10 years and denies that he's been banned — yet. A spokesman for the facility, Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center, declined to comment.

The president of the union representing the security guard told Patch this is not a case of self-deprecating humor gone wrong. The doctor showed the card to the same guard in November 2016 and was told never to do it again, Fred Alston, president of the Teamsters Garage Employees Union Local 272, told Patch.

"It’s totally racist and discriminatory," Alston said. "He knows what he’s doing. He’s an educated individual that came to check on his patients. I doubt very seriously he’s going to make any kind of jokes about someone’s health or their condition."

SEE: Here’s The 'Racist' ID Card That Got An NYC Doctor Barred From Nursing Home

The security guard, Wayne Knight, was working Sunday at Terence Cardinal Cooke — on Fifth Avenue between 106th and 105th streets — when Dr. Richard Lewkowicz, who sees patients at the facility, walked in.

A second guard working with Knight asked the doctor for a photo identification, as is standard procedure when someone enters or exits the building. Lewkowicz told the guard that Knight knows him, but when Lewkowicz tried to get in the elevator, Knight stopped him, Knight told Patch.

"'This is the policy of the facility,'" Knight says he told Lewkowicz. "'All IDs must be shown in and out.' And he said, 'Hold on, I have a special ID to show you.' And he pulled out a picture of a monkey!"

"I was in shock," said Knight, 57, a Flatbush resident who moved to New York from Barbados in 1989. "I had an instant headache. Then I called my supervisor to let him know what occurred."

The doctor told Patch that the health center "tried" to fire him but "didn’t do it yet." He said he's kept the card for 10 years as a joke.

"They know me there," said Lewkowicz, 79.

"I have an ID. A Cardinal Cooke ID," he continued. "On the other side is my old, old, Roosevelt ID, from 10 years ago. And where my face was, I put a picture of a good-looking monkey. And I say, 'When I was younger, I was so good looking.' It's a joke that I've been playing for 10 years."

He said the monkey on the card has a white face. "It looks more like me," Lewkowicz said.

Lewkowicz said the administration at the facility talked to him about the incident.

"I told them I put the picture" on the card, he said. "The ID has been seen by 100 people. Everybody laughs. For this reason, you fire a doctor who’s worked for 35 years?"

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A spokesman for ArchCare, which operates the facility, said he couldn't comment on the incident or confirm whether Lewkowicz was still allowed at the nursing home. The doctor said he sees patients at the nursing home and bills the facility for his services.

"By law and a matter of policy and fairness, we don’t discuss individual personnel matters," John Goldberg, the Archcare spokesman, told Patch.

If it was a joke, the guard didn't think it was very funny.

"It is hard for me to sleep at night," Knight said. "I’m having headaches and jumping up and seeing this picture of this monkey."

Alston, the union president, called the incident a "hate crime."

"He carried the monkey card around with him," Alston said. "The guy shouldn’t even be a damn doctor, let alone work at the facility. I don’t care that he’s barred from the facility. He shouldn’t even be a doctor. He’s scary. Why would he carry something like that around? He should be arrested."

Alston added: "He’s carrying a baseball-looking card. Mickey Mantle is not on it. Babe Ruth is not on it. There is a picture of a monkey on it."

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