UNSPORTSMANLIKE
Hulking, drunk Jet pounded man: suit
A hulking Jets linebacker rearranged the face of a much smaller Queens man during a booze-fueled party in a Chelsea nightclub, a new lawsuit claims.
Lorenzo Mauldin, who is 6-foot-4 and 259 pounds, allegedly battered victim Jean Lopez when he spilled champagne on him at the Highline Ballroom, according to law-enforcement sources and legal papers Lopez filed over the beating.
A photograph of the aftermath shows Lopez, who is just 5-foot-7 and 145 pounds, lying in a hospital bed with a massive black eye and severe swelling on the left side of his face and lips.
Lopez, 22, suffered “multiple maxillofacial fractures” and needed “numerous plates” installed to repair the damage, according to his attorney Sunday.
“It was not a fight — it was an attack,” lawyer Glenn Race said. “He had surgery. He still has numbness on the affected side in his mouth area and traveling up to his ear. It’s a bad injury.”
Race claimed Lopez was leaving the club when he was socked in the face by the muscle-bound Jet without provocation and has eyewitnesses to the attack.
He declined to comment further, saying he didn’t want to interfere with an investigation by the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Lopez told cops he was punched twice — once in the eye and once in the jaw — during the 2:30 a.m. punchout on April 2, according to law-enforcement sources.
No charges were filed after Lopez filed a complaint at the 10th Precinct station house around noon but couldn’t identify his attacker, sources said.
The DA’s Office declined to comment.
At the time of the incident, the Highline Ballroom was the scene of a Cirque Saturday bash hosted by Kirill Was Here, according to information posted online.
Video of the raucous event posted on the Kirill Was Here Instagram page shows a young woman slurping a stream of bubbly being poured down a young man’s bare chest.
The Queens Supreme Court lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from both Mauldin, 24, and Reginald Cook, of Dumont, NJ, who allegedly “acted in concert” by “pushing, grabbing and/or restraining” Lopez.
The suit also targets the Highline Ballroom’s corporate owner, Greenwich Village Entertainment Group, and three other companies allegedly tied to the event.
Lopez cites grounds including assault and battery, claiming that his beating was “willful, intentional, unwarranted and . . . without just cause.” He also alleges negligence and violations of state law, saying Mauldin and Cook were served drinks after they were already wasted.
Mauldin was widely ballyhooed for beating the odds of his troubled childhood — which involved stints in 16 foster homes while both parents were in and out of jail — to become a third-round draft pick by the Jets in 2015.
But after a promising rookie season, he has proved something of a disappointment, notching just 2¹/2 sacks last season.
There was no answer at Mauldin’s home in Morristown, NJ, where a neighbor said he hadn’t been seen in about a week, but his lawyer said the suit against Mauldin was “without merit.”
“Another individual struck the plaintiff. And that will be borne out by the witnesses and other parties involved,” defense lawyer Mitchell Schuster said.
“We have a very strong case and I look forward to pursuing it. Lorenzo’s anxious to be exonerated. He was not involved.” Cook didn’t return messages. The Highline Ballroom’s general manager declined to comment.
The Jets “are aware of the situation and have no further comment at this time,” a team spokesman said.