Metro

Homeless Qns. man ‘beaten’ by cops to sue city for $5M

A homeless Queens man who says he was violently subdued by cops — just before a judge tried to intervene and was also injured by police — plans to sue the city for $5 million.

Charles Menninger said he was holding a pipe at 74th Street and 37th Road in Jackson Heights last Friday night when cops ordered him to drop it. He said he complied but officers threw him to the ground.

“They both beat me while I was handcuffed,” he said in a notice of claim expected to be filed today by his lawyer, Kevin O’Donnell.

While Menninger was on the sidewalk, State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Raffaele, who was in street clothes and walking nearby, stopped and became part of a crowd of onlookers.

Raffaele, 69, who serves in matrimonial court, said that after someone in the crowd shouted at the cops, one of the officers charged into the group and hit him in the throat.

Menninger was taken to Elmhurst Hospital where he was treated for his injuries and released without being charged for a crime.

Raffaele has filed a complaint with the Civilian Complaint Review Board, alleging the officer used excessive force. NYPD Internal Affairs has interviewed Menninger and the Queens DA’s office is also investigating.