PAT ON THE BACK

Man Arrested for Assaulting Rudy Giuliani Sues Him for Lying About It

“Our client merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling physical injuries.”

A man charged with assaulting Rudy Giuliani at a grocery store last year is suing the former New York mayor for lying about it. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Daniel Gill is seeking damages for false arrest, defamation and other claims after he alleges Giuliani exaggerated their interaction. In June, Gill, a worker at the grocery store, walked past Giuliani and clapped him on the back saying, “What’s up, scumbag?” He was arrested, jailed and arraigned for third-degree assault. Giuliani claimed it felt “as if a bolder hit me” and likened it to being shot. “Our client merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling physical injuries, without malice, to simply get his attention,” the Legal Aid Society told The Guardian. The lawsuit alleges video footage captured the incident and corroborates Gill’s claims. “This complaint should be dismissed because it doesn't have legal merit. The decision to make an arrest was made by the police following their own investigation,” Giuliani’s spokesman Ted Goodman said. “An unbiased observer will see this meritless complaint as absurd—with its extraneous political hyperbole, like in paragraph 22 when the attorney felt it necessary to refer to the specific area of Staten Island as a, ‘bastion of white conservatism and Trump support.’”