No break turned out to be a good break for this millionaire playboy.
Manhattan prosecutors yesterday reduced the felony-assault charge against swell-about-town Julien Chabbott to a misdemeanor, saying there were no bone-crunching injuries to the cop whose foot he allegedly ran over in his quarter-million-dollar Ferrari in SoHo in August.
The alleged victim, Officer Felix Recio, “did not suffer any fracture as a result” of the incident, prosecutor Ariel Pizzitola told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Anthony Ferarro in explaining the decision to pursue only a misdemeanor case. Felony assault requires serious physical injury.
The DA’s office also considered video of the incident and the defendant’s lack of a criminal record in reducing the charges, she said.
The Line Snob social media site co-founder and big-bucks beau of reality TV star Stephanie Pratt remains charged with reckless assault and obstruction of governmental administration, both misdemeanors.
“We’re happy to see the case is moving in the right direction,” Chabbott’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told the judge, adding that he hopes the charges will now be dropped in their entirety. “We don’t believe the officer was injured or that Mr. Chabbott was acting recklessly,” Brafman told the judge.
Recio, a married dad from Queens, has told The Post that he was giving Chabbott a parking ticket for being in a no-standing zone without a registration sticker, when Chabbott — who had Pratt at his side — jumped into his red, $260,000 Ferrari Spyder and proceeded to intentionally drive into him.
Recio says he was left with a swollen foot and bruising from the incident, and has promised to sue the millionaire for $10 million.
“My client is disappointed,” the cop’s civil lawyer, Sal Strazzullo, said after court, complaining that just pushing a cop can get a perp 30 days’ jail.
“I think the DA’s office in Manhattan is sending a clear message,” Strazzullo said. “Go ahead, play Russian roulette, and if there’s less injury, you get a free ride.”