City lawyers warned Dominique Sharpton not to delete Instagram photos like this one atop an Indonesian mountain — where she trekked while claiming in a lawsuit that she has “permanent” injuries.
The city Law Department sent Rev. Al’s daughter a letter telling her to preserve all of the damning evidence that she posted on her social-media accounts.
The warning comes after The Post revealed that Dominique Sharpton has been globe-trotting despite her May 7 suit that says she will never fully recover from a sprained ankle she suffered on an uneven Soho street.
Sharpton, who works for her dad’s National Action Network, claimed in court papers that she “still suffers and will continue to suffer for some time physical pain and bodily injuries.”
A week after filing the Manhattan Supreme Court suit, Sharpton boasted on her Instagram account, “We hiked UP the mountain, over the clouds . . . into the SUNRISE.” The post, linked to her Twitter account, shows Sharpton and a friend above the clouds.
Now the city plans to use Sharpton’s social-media trail to quash her case.
“The purpose of this letter is to demand that plaintiff preserve any photographs, documents, communications and any other information, both tangible and electronically stored, potentially relevant to her alleged trip and fall on Dec. 23, 2014,” de Blasio administration lawyer Michele Fox wrote in a May 20 letter filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“This demand should be construed broadly to encompass materials related to plaintiff’s health, mobility, activity or physical limitations after the alleged incident.”
It gives a clear directive that Sharpton had better not dump documents and photos to save her case.
The city wants to make sure the evidence is safe in all possible forms, directing Sharpton not to touch her “cameras (digital and non-digital) e-mails, text messages, cellular phones, tablets and any other device.”
As of Friday, Sharpton’s Instagram and Twitter accounts were still active and the damning posts had not been removed.
Sharpton’s lawyer, John Elefterakis, said she “has been forthcoming and transparent throughout this case with regard to her capabilities despite her pain. Ms. Sharpton does not require a letter to instruct her to save pictures which she has freely made available to the public.”
Manhattan attorney David Jaroslawicz, who is not involved in the case, said Sharpton may see no more than $5,000 if her case goes to trial because she broke a cardinal rule for personal-injury plaintiffs: “Stay off Instagram!”