New York Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday called for prosecutors to investigate Rudy Giuliani for possibly filing a false police report in claiming he was slapped at a grocery store.
Adams, the second Black mayor of New York, went as far as to call Giuliani a possible "Karen," a slang term for people — often white women — who are prone to use their privilege to call police or other authority to settle noncriminal disputes, often with people of color.
“I believe, just as we’ve done in other instances like the Karen incident in Central Park, I believe the DA should look at that," Adams said. "I don’t want to see innocent people in jail.”
Back in spring 2020 in Central Park, a white woman, Amy Cooper, called police and claimed a bird watcher, a Black man, was threatening her when he was merely asking her to put her dog on a leash.
Giuliani, a onetime New York mayor now best known for his work supporting former President Donald Trump's lies about election fraud, claims he was slapped Sunday at a ShopRite supermarket on Staten Island.
Giuliani said he was at the store to campaign for his son, Andrew Giuliani, who this week lost his bid for the GOP nomination for governor.
Daniel Gill, 39, an employee of the ShopRite, was initially charged with second-degree assault.
Prosecutors then reduced the charge to misdemeanor assault with intent to cause physical injury, according to court records. Two other misdemeanor counts, third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment, were added, records showed.
Legal Aid, which initially represented Gill, characterized the encounter as merely a pat on the back — not a dramatic slap.
And store security video published by the New York Post shows someone coming up behind Giuliani inside the store and placing a hand on his back without much reactive movement by Giuliani.
Giuliani's attorney, Robert Costello, criticized Adams for seeming to take Gill's side while at the same time defending police who arrested a popular street performer.
"Oh, I get it, he wants to see the subway saxophone guy in jail but not the guy that hit Giuliani while calling him" expletives, Costello said.
"Does that sound like someone who wants to pat Rudy on the back? I guess that means Eric Adams doesn’t mind if people do that to him," Costello said.
An attorney for Gill could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
"The DA’s office is declining comment pending the ongoing case and investigation," a representative of Staten Island DA Michael McMahon said in a statement.
