The NBA player who beat criminal charges of resisting arrest in a melee outside a Manhattan nightclub plans to sue the city and eight cops for up to $50 million over what he claims are “permanent” injuries, even though he’s back on the court — and dunking.
Thabo Sefolosha of the Atlanta Hawks says in a legal notice that the broken leg he suffered when cops pushed him to the ground outside celebrity hot spot 1Oak last April caused him to “become substantially disabled.”
The physical “damages are permanent in nature and continuing into the future,” according to the notice of claim filed with the city’s comptroller.
But six months later, the 6-foot-5 guard/forward is back on the court.
“If Thabo isn’t 100%, what will his dunks look like when he is?” the Hawks tweeted Sunday after his monster dunk.
Sefolosha’s defense lawyer, Alex Spiro, said the player’s exceptional performance on the court doesn’t mean he wasn’t permanently injured.
“Unfortunately, he may not be dunking as much as he was before this happened,” the attorney said.
The Swiss-born player, who missed the remainder of last season following the injury, quietly filed the legal notice last summer.
Sefolosha, a 10-year NBA veteran, was partying with a teammate at 1Oak when ex-Knick Chris Copeland was slashed by a stranger outside the Chelsea club.
Cops claimed Sefolosha, 31, refused orders to clear the area and then called one officer a “midget.”
Sefolosha told the jury he complied with the orders and hurled the insult only after the cop taunted, “Get off my . . . f–king block.”