A doctor claims he was beaten up by partying neighbors who former CNN anchor Candy Crowley and her son illegally allowed to live in her apartment, new court papers allege.
Charles Starke, 54, told The Post that he and his wife were trying to sleep on Sept. 30 but were kept awake by a next door apartment’s door that repeatedly slammed shut throughout the evening — due to a vacuum effect from the open terrace — at their Financial District building where a party was being held.
Party hosts Paul Dipipa and Javier Sanabria were allegedly illegally living in the 19th-floor unit which is owned by Crowley and her son Jonathan, all according to a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit from Monday. The Crowleys weren’t present that night, the suit says.
After asking the doorman to intervene to no avail, Starke — a 54-year-old anesthesiologist — went to plead with the attendees to stop slamming the door, he claims.
Then Starke was allegedly kicked, shoved and punched by two other building residents Alexandria Lord and Cameron Wertheimer — who were attending the gathering — in an “unprovoked assault,” the filing alleges.
The suit claims there were drugs and alcohol at the fiesta and Starke’s assailants “were in a visibly intoxicated and or illegally drug induced condition.”
Weirtheimer, 31, allegedly told Starke, “I will slit your throat,” according to a separate criminal complaint.
“These people were highly aggressive and screaming at me,” Starke said.
“I said nothing aside from ‘Get back into the party and get out of the hallway and stop slamming doors,'” Starke said. “I got beaten up and I got injured and hospitalized.”
In the melee, Starke says the tendon in his left elbow and shoulder was torn, which will require surgery and a month off of work. The suit says he also broke his foot.
Lord and Wertheimer have been charged with assault and harassment for the incident, according to their Manhattan criminal complaints. They were both released without bail and their cases are pending.
In a separate suit, Starke is seeking $10 million in damages from Crowley, her son, Sanabria, Dipipa, Lord, Wertheimer and Lord and Wertheimer’s landlord.
The Crowleys “are being sued because they owned it and they allowed people to stay there illegally against the [building’s] bylaws and allowed them to have a party,” Starke’s lawyer Jonathan Strauss said.
Wertheimer and Lord’s criminal defense lawyers both called the suit a “money grab” and characterized Starke as the aggressor.
“I’m told by multiple people that the good doctor came out shirtless, pounding on the door, irate, threatening that if [the door slammed] again he would kill them,” Wertheimer’s lawyer Franklin Rothman told The Post.
Rothman added that “multiple witnesses” told him that they saw Starke going for Wertheimer’s neck prompting Wertheimer to take “him to the ground.”
“There is nothing in this case except a desire to get paid,” Rothman said.
Lord’s lawyer Peter Frankel told The Post his client “did absolutely nothing wrong and I anticipate that she will be fully exonerated.”
Dipipa told The Post that when an angry Starke came to the door he said “I’m going to kill you if you make any more noise” — a claim which Starke denied.
Dipipa said there were nine people at the quiet gathering who were all residents of the building and “either business owners or professionals.”
“There were no drugs. This was a quiet evening,” Dipipa said.
“The only thing was the door would slam from the wind from the terrace,” he said explaining that not all the attendees knew how to quietly close the door.
Dipipa also said the incident “had nothing to do with Candy Crowley,” and said “it wasn’t illegally rented out.” He noted that he used to live in the building and that Jonathan would let him stay there a few times a month.
Sanabria echoed Dipipa’s responses saying Starke, “was the one who started it” and adding that Starke was “faking his injuries.”
Starke denied all of Dipipa, Sanabria, Rothman and Frankel’s allegations against him.
Crowley could not be reached for comment. Jonathan did not return a message seeking comment from him and his mother.