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Take that, you crazy-old-hippy-looking lawyer!
The young punk who punched activist attorney Ron Kuby in the nose during an argument on a Chelsea sidewalk pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal court today — but not before taking one last swipe.
“He’s a complete scumbag,” Michael Cook, 21, of Harlem, griped to The Post before admitting to a judge that he’d schnoz-socked the libby lawyer.
Not only that, but Kuby fights like a girl, the kid complained.
“He hit me first,” Cook claimed. “And he didn’t even hit me that good… I didn’t know he was this publicity hound lawyer — I thought he was this old crazy guy,” Cook added. “I thought he was a homeless guy to be honest.”
Cook had been charged with misdemeanor assault for clocking Kuby on West 23rd Street in mid-September. Kuby says he was walking near Cook and Cook’s female friend. The female was in the middle of a loud, anti-gay rant, Kuby suggested she keep her voice down, and fisticuffs ensued.
Kuby says Cook punched first, striking his nose. Cook today claimed Kuby came at him first, with a girly punch to the head. Still, Cook took his plea, admitting to one count of harassment — a violation, not a crime — and agreeing to attend an anger management class and do five days community service.
Cook, a rapper for a Brooklyn-based independent label called “Krust Kollective,” says he gets the sense that he’s already done the community a service.
In fact, he said, unnamed court personnel have already shaken his hand and commended his deed. “They told me ‘Thanks for punching that guy in the nose!'” Cook told The Post.
“Delightful young man,” Kuby said with a laugh, when told of Cook’s left-handed guilty plea.
“When he wrote his lengthy apology to me begging me for mercy, he left out the scumbag part,” the lawyer noted.
“I haven’t thrown the first punch or any punch in anger in some 40 years,” the lawyer said. “I told the DA’s office I did not want to see him with a criminal record. I don’t want this kid killing anybody or getting killed in some stupid macho contest.
“The sad thing is young men like this kill somebody or get killed every day over stupid stuff,” he said. “So I think that anger management is a good thing and I think he should start soon,” he said, adding,
“And I also think he shouldn’t be hitting people he thinks are homeless people — the next crazy-looking old hippy may be another lawyer, or a politician, or a senator. You may be surprised.”
THE EMAIL APOLOGY TO KUBY: (or READ AS A PDF)