A ‘HATE’ HIT
DA preps bias charge for NFL heiress in bashing
THE FOOTBALL heiress accused of making anti-Semitic remarks and bashing a man bloody during a New Year’s Eve meltdown is now on the receiving end of a hate crime probe.
Millionaire socialite Jacqueline Kent Cooke, whose late father, Jack Kent Cooke, owned Washington’s NFL team, appeared in Manhattan court for her felony assault arraignment Thursday as prosecutors made the announcement.
“The people are investigating this case as a possible hate crime,” Assistant District Attorney Jorge Deossa said.
Prosecutors are focusing on claims Cooke said, “Hurry up, Jew,” to women in an Upper East Side restaurant Sunday night and then attacked a man who was with them when he protested outside, causing two cuts on his head.
“She hit him with her purse made of glass,” Deossa said.
Cooke has filed a cross-complaint against the man, California lawyer Matthew Haberkorn, sources said.
The 29-year-old Cooke held up her swollen right ring finger in court as her public defender, Rebecca Phipps, said the digit was broken in the scuffle that led to her Wednesday arrest. It was unclear why the heiress did not have private counsel. Phipps said Cooke did not make the alleged anti-Semitic remarks and was defending herself when Haberkorn, 52, “pursued” her outside. “To begin with, my client never made the comment, never made the slur she was accused of making,” Phipps said.
The lawyer claimed Haberkorn’s wife and 77-year-old mother simply “misheard” or “misunderstood” a comment.
Phipps said it was Haberkorn who “made the first physical contact.” She said Cooke was also injured in the skirmish and postponed getting surgery on her finger so she could visit the 19th Precinct stationhouse Wednesday night at the request of detectives. Judge Judy Kim released Cooke on her own recognizance and set her next appearance for Feb. 15. Kim also issued an order of protection barring Cooke from having any contact with Haberkorn.
Cooke bolted from the courtroom and hid her face as she jetted out into the snowstorm. In a story the Daily News first reported, Haberkorn said Cooke made multiple remarks to his relatives at Caravaggio on E. 74th St. near Madison Ave. as they waited to collect their coats.
“Hurry up, Jew,” Cooke allegedly spat twice, Haberkorn said. He said Cooke then attacked him with her mirrored purse outside in an alleged drunken tirade.
Video shot by one of his daughters caught a heated exchange and Cooke pulling Haberkorn to the ground in an apparent tackle.
“Why don’t you use your money to get a nose job?” Cooke allegedly told Haberkorn’s wife.
Haberkorn’s lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, said his client “is fully cooperating with the authorities.”
The allegations of glass warfare seem to echo a similar case involving Cooke’s mom 20 years ago.
Suzanne Martin Cooke, now 61, was arrested in 1996 after allegedly chucking a drinking glass at the head of restaurateur Stratis Morfogen, founder of Philippe Chow, at Frederick’s lounge on E. 64th St., a source told The News. Morfogen was left with a facial cut.
Court records show Suzanne Cooke pleaded guilty to assault and got 10 days of community service.
“I’ve moved on,” Morfogen said Thursday.