Ex-Ranger Sean Avery goes on trial in NYC for ramming scooter into car
Former New York Rangers hothead Sean Avery was in Manhattan court Wednesday for the start of his trial on charges he used a scooter to hit a car that was blocking a bike lane a few years ago.
The pugnacious player, 42, was hit with a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief over the incident back in 2019 — and the case has dragged on ever since.
Avery — a fierce protector of bike lanes — is accused of bashing the driver’s side door of a car with his scooter at East Eighth Street and Broadway in Greenwich Village on Feb. 23, 2019.
The car he allegedly hit belonged to venture capitalist Jonathan Schulhof, who testified before Judge Marisol Martinez-Alonso Wednesday about the incident.
“A very agitated person started screaming vulgarities at me and just telling me, you know, ‘Why don’t you watch where the eff you’re going,'” Schulhof said.
The businessman, who was in the minivan with his wife and 4-year-old daughter, testified that Avery cursed him out but “it was very startling, so I don’t really have a great record of exactly what he said.”
After the two exchanged words, Schulhof then “heard what sounded like a stick of dynamite go off, a really loud boom, and felt the car shaking.
“And, I looked in the rear-view mirror and realized that he had taken his scooter and used it as a cudgel and slammed it into the door right where my four year-old was sitting. So I told my wife, ‘This guy’s nuts. Take his picture.'”
The alleged attack left a “quarter-sized hole” in the door of the car next to where Schulhof’s four-year-old daughter was sitting, he said.
Schulhof’s wife Kimberly Kravis, the daughter of the real estate scion and billionaire Henry Kravis.
Avery, who retired from the NHL in 2012, originally said he was going to represent himself in court — against the judge’s advice — but has since hired criminal defense attorney Jason Goldman.
The hockey player sat in the courtroom wearing a black short-sleeve button down shirt and black pants. He did not speak or testify on Wednesday.
“Sean is grateful to finally have his day in Court. We look forward to fighting these allegations,” Goldman, a former Brooklyn prosecutor, told The Post in a statement.The proceedings lasted around 90 minutes on Wednesday and will continue Thursday. The trial is expected to close at the end of the week.
Goldman questioned why the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office hadn’t dropped the case against his star client, telling The Post that, “the real focus should be on addressing the violent crime plaguing our city.”
“Instead, because of my client’s name, the District Attorney’s office is wasting unnecessary resources on prosecuting this trivial, petty matter against an individual with no criminal history whatsoever,” Goldman said in a statement Tuesday.
Prosecutors have offered Avery a series of plea deals, but he has opted not to take them, going to trial instead.
The case is a bench trial, meaning it will be decided by a judge, not a jury. If convicted, Avery, who now lives in California, faces up to three months behind bars.
Around the time of the alleged incident, Avery was known to frequently pick fights with drivers blocking bike lanes and then posting Instagram videos of the altercations.
Avery told The Post following a court appearance in June 2019: “If I need to be the poster boy for defending the bike lanes, I will absolutely do that. We need to be able to just bike in freedom.”
The controversial former forward was arrested for throwing rocks at cars just days before his 2015 wedding to model Hilary Rhoda.
Avery was with the New York Rangers for roughly half his 10-year NHL career, before hanging up the skates.