NEW YORK — Charges against the Staten Island supermarket worker who slapped Rudy Giuliani on the back will be dismissed if he stays out of trouble for six months.
The agreement announced in court Tuesday, known as an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal (ACD), means the case against Daniel Gill will be dismissed in March and sealed — though the attention generated by the incident won’t likely be forgotten.
“As we have maintained since earlier this year, Daniel Gill, who had no prior contact with the criminal legal system, did not commit any criminal act, and this outcome, which will ultimately dismiss the case in its entirety, reflects that reality.” Gill’s Legal Aid Society lawyer, Susan Platis, said in a statement.
“Mr. Gill looks forward to putting this incident, one which completely upended his life, behind him.”
Gill was accused on June 26 of coming up behind the former mayor at a Charleston Shop RIte as the former New York City mayor campaigned with his son, Andrew Giuliani, who was running for the Republican nomination for governor.
“What’s up, scumbag,” Gill, 39, said as he slapped the elder Giuliani on the back, police said at the time.
The 78-year-old said Gill blasted his anti-abortion rights stance as a threat to women in the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe V. Wade.
Gill, Giuliani said, cursed, menaced and threatened him — and claimed he could have fallen and died, much the way an elderly uncle of Giuliani’s did from an accidental fall.
“I got hit on the back as if a boulder hit me,” Giuliani claimed. “It hurt tremendously. I did not know what it was. I had no idea what it was. And all of a sudden I heard someone yell something at me, dirty curse words and some more dirty curse words as he retreated, ran away. Then he turned around and said I was a woman-killer.”
But video showed what “appears to be a tap on the back,” Gill’s lawyer, Susan Platis, said at the time. The only threat, she said, came afterward when someone with Giuliani followed Gill, poked him in the chest and threatened him.
Gill was originally charged with felony assault but the charges were downgraded to misdemeanor assault, plus two other misdemeanors, for menacing and harassment.
On Wednesday, the ACD was announced in court.
Assistant District Attorney Darren Albanese said Gill was out of line.
“It is not OK to startle someone with unwanted contact, from behind, and then yell at them, simply because you may disagree with their political beliefs,” Albanese said. “Public figures and private citizens alike should not have to fear such disconcerting, unwanted contact, especially by employees of stores in which they are patrons. This defendant violated a basic social contract which is a lesson taught when we are young — keep your hands to yourself.”
But, Albanese said, it would be “extremely difficult” to prove Gill intended to hurt Giuliani or that Giuliani was even injured.
Gil was later suspended indefinitely by ShopRite, his girlfriend noted in a GoFundMe page set up to help him pay his bills.
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