Phone-gizmo flap led cop to shoot rival in face: suit

A dumb, drunken dispute over a phone charger prompted a short-tempered NYPD sergeant to shoot a romantic rival in the face last year, according to a new lawsuit.

The petty beef is a new twist on what law enforcement sources previously described as a romantic rivalry that exploded in violence.

Thavone Santana’s lawsuit said the near-deadly confrontation with NYPD Sgt. Ritchard Blake began Aug. 2 in Brooklyn, when the mother of Blake’s children, Debbie, borrowed Santana’s phone charger.

Shortly after 4 a.m., Santana — who’d been playing video games in an apartment across the hall from Debbie’s apartment in Brownsville — went to retrieve his charger from her, the lawsuit says.

Blake answered the door, “appeared inebriated” and “began cursing and screaming,” according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Santana — who was then 21 years old — decided to leave the building to buy a new phone charger. He did not realize that Blake, who was headed out to begin his NYPD shift, trailed him out of the building, the suit says.

Blake barked at Santana to stay away from Debbie. The confrontation escalated, and Blake fired his gun twice, striking Santana once in the chin.

Video of the shooting appears to show Blake planting evidence — “knives” — on Santana as he lay wounded, the lawsuit says.

But Blake noticed there was a surveillance camera possibly recording his moves — so he took the knives back, says the suit. The NYPD fired Blake last year.

Santana’s mouth remains wired shut, and bullet is still lodged in his neck.

Santana and his mother are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed against the city. They argue the NYPD should not have allowed Blake to carry a firearm.

Abe George the, the former officer’s lawyer, said

Santana is a gang member whose version of events can not be believed.

He said Blake fired his weapon in self-defense.