It’s enough to drive a man into the drink.
The father of the distraught Manhattan man who intentionally drove the family minivan into a Central Park pond says it’s his son’s balloon-animal-making girlfriend — and not he — who’s to blame for the wacky incident, claiming the gal pal had his son chauffeur her to gigs across the city while racking up pricey parking tickets along the way.
“She is a face-painter and a balloon twister . . . She’s got no life because she’s got no car!” said Ken Romo, 60, whose son, Anthony Romo, 30, was arrested Saturday.
At the time, the angry son claimed, “[My dad] loves that car more than he loves me!”
Ken Romo yesterday insisted to The Post that he loves his son but added, “He’s accrued so many tickets, I can’t let him use the car anymore!”
Public records show that the minivan has accumulated $660 worth of parking tickets and violations in the last month alone.
But Anthony’s girlfriend told The Post that her troubled lover was brought to the brink of madness after his mom stabbed him in the arm in a dispute last month.
Anthony tried to get his family to seek group therapy because of it, to no avail, said the girl, who refused to give her name.
“I think he felt like [the pond incident] was the last hope — he had to shock his dad into reality,” the gal pal said.
A police source confirmed that on July 14, Anthony had gone to retrieve his cat from mom Donna Gianell, 55, at his parents’ Upper West Side apartment, but for some reason she refused to hand over the kitty and stabbed him.
But Anthony’s dad said his son is the one who is troubled.
Anthony took the car to take his gal to yet another gig Saturday, and that’s when he had his meltdown with the green Nissan Quest, he said.
Anthony was arraigned on a charge of reckless driving in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday. His girlfriend and her father paid his $500 bail, and he was freed early today.
Additional reporting by Doug Auer