‘Witness tamper’ dad flap in stab-slay

The father of a Manhattan man charged in a fatal 2020 stabbing in Hell’s Kitchen is now facing his own arrest for witness tampering over social media posts.

Steve Darbasie said he will turn himself in on Monday after an arrest warrant was issued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.

Darbasie, a 43-year-old salesman, has insisted his son, Tammuz Darbasie, then 21, was acting in self-defense when he was attacked in what he called a gang assault that left Terrell Wigfall (inset), 24, dead. He said Tammuz took out a knife to defend himself and Wigfall — the leading scorer in 2018 for the Bronx Community College Broncos basketball team — was stabbed in the scuffle as he tried to steal his son’s bag. Tammuz was charged with first-degree manslaughter and is being held on Rikers Island on $500,000 cash bail.

Video clips posted in December 2022 to an Instagram account show apparent witnesses being interviewed about the attack by police. The posts include names and images of pigs and rats.

Darbasie said his son’s lawyer obtained the police video but declined to say who posted it.

The dad said the NYPD stormed into his West 57th Street apartment before dawn Wednesday morning looking for him.

“The DA will send a Swat team to someone’s house to charge them with a felony for an Instagram post, but allow career criminals to roam the streets,” he said.

Darbasie started a petition on Change.org to have gang assault included in the law as a justification for self-defense.

The NYPD referred comment to the DA’s Office, which said it could not confirm whether a warrant had been issued.