Alibi clears activist in hammer bash of ex

The former head of a city good-government group wants his good name back now that charges were dropped after he was falsely accused of attacking an ex-boyfriend with a hammer.

Dick Dadey, 62, who ran Citizens Union until 2017, was cuffed in December 2020 for allegedly beating a former beau with a hammer on a Brooklyn street and sending the 37-year-old man to the hospital with minor injuries to his leg and foot.

But Dadey had no idea what the case was about until he was brought before a judge, he told the Daily News.

The charges, which included assault, menacing, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon, made no sense to Dadey (photo) — who told authorities he was in

Pennsylvania celebrating Thanksgiving weekend at the time of the Nov. 28, 2020, attack, which took place in East New York.

“I was able to provide incontrovertible evidence that I could not have committed this crime because I was out of town in Pennsylvania at the time of the incident and was physically incapable of participating in the act because I had just come out of shoulder surgery,” Dadey told The News.

He and his lawyer provided prosecutors with cell phone records and texts from the time of the attack, which they said proved Dadey was nowhere near the scene. Records show Dadey’s phone pinging off cell towers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania at the time.

A letter from Dadey’s doctor confirmed that he underwent rotator cuff surgery in October, was in a sling and unable to use his arm when the crime occurred. “This allegation had nothing to do with me,” said Dadey, who claimed he had not been involved with the man for four years and was “stunned” by the accusation.

“The NYPD’s arrest of Mr. Dad- ey was baseless and unsupported by any meaningful evidence,” said Todd Neuhaus, Dadey’s attorney. “We appreciate the district attorney’s office moving to dismiss these charges after we presented overwhelming evidence supporting our client’s innocence.”

Prosecutors confirmed to The News that the case was dropped Feb. 1 after they asked a judge to drop the charges.

“After a careful review of the evidence, we concluded the charges should be dismissed,” said Helen Peterson, a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn DA.

Dadey headed the Citizens Union for more than a decade, but was replaced when he was arrested on drug possession charges in Brooklyn. He completed a rehab stint, and the charges were dropped in that case as well.