An asbestos-removal supervisor exonerated as a “scapegoat” in the Deutsche Bank building blaze that killed two city firefighters is suing the city for charging him with manslaughter.
Sal DePaola, who beat the rap after a 2011 jury trial, claims in court papers made public today that FDNY officials schemed to “manufacture evidence” against him in the smoke-inhalation deaths of firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino.
His suit says the FDNY, “in an effort to avoid liability,” didn’t reveal that “there had been an utter lack of regular inspection by the FDNY and no specific firefighting plans” for the Deutsche Bank building after it was damaged in the Sept. 11 terror attacks that destroyed the nearby Twin Towers.
Instead, DePaola says authorities blamed Beddia and Graffagnino’s deaths on the removal of a broken emergency standpipe, “which was known not to be a direct cause of the deaths of the firefighters.”
The Manhattan federal court filing seeks unspecified damages for “deprivation of due process,” malicious prosecution and conspiracy.
DePaola and two other construction supervisors were acquitted of charges in Beddia and Graffagnino’s deaths, with jurors in the case of DePaola and safety manager Jeffrey Melofchik saying they were used as scapegoats after the FDNY ignored glaring safety violations.
City lawyer Muriel Goode-Trufant said: “We are reviewing the lawsuit. The officials who investigated this matter acted in good faith.”
bruce.golding@nypost.com