Stung by the refusal of the Queens district attorney to prosecute the cops he says assaulted him, a state Supreme Court judge today took the first steps to sue the city.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Thomas Raffaele walked into the Kew Gardens courthouse on his day off to file the notice of claim against the city, expressing his intention to file a lawsuit for the “untruths” and “slander” he claims was reported by a pair of transit cops to undercut criminal charges.
The judge filed the legal papers himself, naming the city, the transit officers and “other organizations” as defendants.
“The untruths said by the police to the prosecutors and how I behaved are all slander,” said the judge in regards to the officers’ claim that his throat injury was from “yelling.”
The 69-year-old matrimonial judge alleges he was karate-chopped in the throat by one officer as he was attempting to defuse a rowdy scene where a homeless man, Charles Menninger, was involved in a confrontation with the cop on an Elmhurst street on June 1.
“The only way to get the city to be more responsible for what happened to me and others who were hit that day is to file this [notice] to make sure the police are doing the right thing on the streets,” said Raffaele.
The judge slammed the Queens District Attorney’s office last week for not filing a case against the cop he says roughed him up.
christina.carrega@nypost.com