The grocery store employee accused of assaulting Rudy Giuliani “merely patted” the previous New York Metropolis mayor, the person’s legal professionals mentioned on Monday as they mentioned the fees in opposition to their shopper have been overblown.
The Authorized Assist Society, which is representing Daniel Gill, a 39-year-old retailer affiliate at a ShopRite in Staten Island, New York, mentioned that Giuliani had exaggerated the incident.
“The costs going through Daniel Gill, who has no earlier contact with the legal authorized system, are inconsistent with present regulation,” the group mentioned in a press release. “Our shopper merely patted Mr. Giuliani, who sustained nothing remotely resembling bodily accidents, with out malice to easily get his consideration, because the video footage clearly confirmed.”
Gill was arrested on a felony cost of assault within the second diploma in connection to the Sunday afternoon incident involving Giuliani on the ShopRite the place Gill works, the New York Police Division mentioned.
Prosecutors later downgraded the fees, and Gill was arraigned on Monday on misdemeanor expenses of assault within the third diploma, menacing within the third diploma, and harassment within the second diploma.
Gill — whom the NYPD informed Insider has no different prior arrests on his document — was launched by a decide with out bail.
Video footage captured the Sunday afternoon incident, exhibiting a person slapping Giuliani on the again earlier than strolling away as Giuliani was inside the shop on the brink of marketing campaign for his son Andrew, a Republican candidate for New York governor.
—Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) June 26, 2022
Giuliani mentioned in a Fb Dwell video on Monday that the video is “somewhat misleading as a result of it simply exhibits a hand on my again.”
“The police noticed the entire video tape — not the little piece proven to you by the dishonest press — they usually upgraded the cost to second-degree assault, a felony,” he mentioned. Giuliani didn’t reference prosecutors’ determination to downgrade the fees.
An NYPD spokesperson informed Insider that Gill slapped Giuliani on the mid-back whereas stating, “What’s up, scumbag?”
Giuliani, who mentioned he was left in ache from the incident, mentioned in one other Fb Dwell video on Monday that the person who struck him might have “simply” knocked him to the bottom and “killed” him if he hit his head.
“It was a really, very heavy shot,” mentioned Giuliani, 78, who added, “I acquired hit on the again as if a boulder hit me.”
“His intent was to do critical hurt,” Giuliani mentioned. “He’s fortunate that he did not knock me down and I hit my cranium and died or acquired a concussion or acquired severely injured.”
The previous mayor referred to the person who touched him as a “little punk” who focused him “as a result of I’m pro-life.”
Giuliani, a Republican, mentioned the suspect shouted “soiled curse phrases” at him and known as him a “girl killer” whose “get together kills ladies.”
The Authorized Assist Society mentioned that Gill was “adopted and threatened” by one in all Giuliani’s “associates” who “allegedly poked Mr. Gill within the chest and informed him that he was going to be ‘locked up'” after the incident.
“He was then needlessly held by the NYPD in custody for over 24 hours,” the non-profit mentioned of Gill.
“Given Mr. Giuliani’s obsession with seeing his identify within the press and his demonstrated propensity to distort the reality, we’re blissful to right the document on precisely what occurred over the weekend on Staten Island,” the Authorized Assist Society mentioned.
Gill, who has labored on the Staten Island ShopRite since 2017, was “suspended pending termination,” over the incident, ShopRite’s dad or mum firm informed Insider on Monday.
“Now we have zero tolerance for aggression towards anybody,” mentioned Wakefern Meals Company.
