STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday reiterated his stance that Rudy Giuliani should be prosecuted for falsely reporting a crime in the wake of an incident at a Staten Island supermarket last week.
Adams made his comments during an appearance on “The Daily Show,” and called on Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon to consider prosecuting Giuliani.
“[Giuliani] falsely reported a crime and the DA should take that seriously,” Adams said.
The mayor pointed out that the person involved in the incident, Daniel Gill, 39, spent 24 hours in jail.
“That’s not acceptable,” Adams said.
He referenced the case of Amy Cooper, who in 2020 called the cops on a black birdwatcher who asked her to leash her dog, The New York Post reported. She falsely claimed in a second 911 call that he tried to assault her.
“If that tape wasn’t there, imagine what would have happened to that man,” the mayor said.
The incident occurred on Sunday at 3:25 p.m., inside of the South Shore-based ShopRite, located at 3010 Veterans Road West, the Advance/SILive.com previously reported. Gill, an employee of the store, was arrested shortly after the incident.
Surveillance camera video, originally posted by the New York Post, shows the former mayor standing at the center of a group of about a half dozen individuals inside the supermarket when the worker, wearing a pandemic mask, walks up behind him and appears to slap him on the back with his right hand as he walks by.
Gill allegedly said, “Hey, what’s up scumbag,” as he approached Giuliani.
Gill was initially charged with second-degree assault in the incident — charges have since been downgraded to third-degree harassment and harassment.
Giuliani, in response to Adams, said: “I never filed the police report, contrary to the lying mayor who has crime up more than [Bill] de Blasio. There were five witnesses.”
He added that Adams was acting like “a petulant child,” and should be preventing crimes against senior citizens.
“This guy is a f—ing loser,’' he said. “When you have crime higher than de Blasio, you should resign.”
Giuliani detailed that he had four conversations with McMahon’s office, none about investigating him, The Post reported.
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