Booze-bust driver suing officer over brawl
The NYPD cop whose bloodalcohol content was five times the legal limit when he crashed his SUV on Staten Island last month is being sued by a motorist he stopped for DWI.
Officer John Finley, who sent the Breathalyzer soaring with a .43 reading after smashing into a guardrail while off duty, can be seen throwing haymakers during a 2012 tussle with Pavel Krut in exclusive video obtained by The Post.
The dashboardcam footage shows the hulking Finley and his Highway Patrol partner, Henry Granda, pulling over Krut, 23, on April Fools’ Day for excessively tinted windows and for allegedly failing to signal while switching lanes.
Krut repeatedly refused to roll down his window and get out of his car, the video shows. At one point, he said he was going to call a detective pal.
After a friend arrives, Krut gets out and appears to yank his hand away from Granda as the cop attempts to corral him.
Finley, 45, and Granda grab Krut, and Finley repeatedly punches Krut’s head during the struggle, according to the tape.
The three then spill out of camera range as Finley repeatedly screams at Krut, “Get off me!”
Finley, who is 6foot3 and 300 pounds, then starts to cough and yells, “I can’t breathe!”
“You’re lucky you didn’t get shot!” Granda seethes at Krut after he is cuffed.
After blowing a bloodalcohol level of .128 percent, above the legal limit of .08 percent, Krut was eventually convicted of DWI, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. He remains out on bail as his case goes through appeal.
Krut’s lawyer, Jeremy Gutman, has filed suit against Finley and Granda claiming excessive force.
Gutman said that the officers overreacted and that the use of force — including baton blows — was unnecessary.
The lawyer said Finley claimed to have suffered a torn rotator cuff while appearing to have a cut on his nose.
The civil case is being stayed pending the outcome of the criminal appeal.
The cops also filed a civil suit against Krut after they both missed time because of injuries from the melee.
Finley was busted for DWI himself after he smashed his 2009 GMC Envoy into a guardrail on the West Shore Expressway on Aug. 8. Officers found a bottle of Georgi vodka in his vehicle and the cop nearly incoherent, according to prosecutors.
Finley has been suspended pending the outcome of the case and has a court date in November.
Gutman and Krut declined to comment.