“One has to remind former mayor Giuliani that false reporting of a crime is a crime,” Adams told reporters, saying he had watched security videos undermining Giuliani’s painful account. Giuliani, 78, described that he was hit so hard that he felt as if he had been shot. The stickler, who told the police, shouted “What’s up garbage?” As he left Giuliani, he was arrested and spent more than 24 hours in jail before being charged Monday with misdemeanor charges, including a third-degree assault. Adams said he believed Staten Island Attorney Michael McMahon “has the wrong person to investigate.” “When you watch the video, the guy actually went over and stroked his back,” Adams said. “It was clear that he was not punched in the head. It was clear that it did not look like a sphere. It was clear that he was not going to fall to the ground. “ Adams and McMahon are Democrats. Giuliani, a Republican, served as mayor from 1994 to 2001, earning widespread praise for his leadership since 9/11. Now suspended from the legal profession, he has served as a personal lawyer for former President Donald Trump and has taken the lead in challenging the outcome of Trump’s 2020 election defeat. The incident at Sunday’s supermarket happened as Giuliani campaigned for his son, Andrew, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in Tuesday’s primary. McMahon’s office declined to comment on Adams’ calls for an investigation into Giuliani. A message asking for comment was left at the New York City Police Department, where Adams once served as a captain. Giuliani responded with swearing when asked about Adams’ comments by the New York Post. He called the mayor “ungrateful”. The stickler was released without bail on Monday. He will return to court on August 17. Court records show he is now being represented by a private lawyer, who did not respond to a message requesting comment Tuesday. A group of public defenders who represented him at his trial denounced the man’s arrest. Giuliani was standing with a group of people when a man passing by stretched out his hand, touched his back with an open palm and then said something as he walked away. Giuliani said the man accused him of being a “murderer”, which he saw as a reference to the Supreme Court ruling overturning Rowe against Wade. In the security video, Giuliani barely reacted when he was touched on the back, but speaking to another Republican radio presenter, Curtis Slioa, told WABC that he felt “like someone shot me.” Later, in a press conference on Facebook, he said that it was “like I was hit by a boulder”.
