A disabled US Army veteran and longtime food cart vendor has filed an $8 million lawsuit against the city claiming he was falsely arrested for trying to make a living, according to court documents.
Food seller Armando Crescenzi was arrested and issued a summons for “unlawful vending” back in February as he worked his cart on West 34th Street and Broadway, according to his suit filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“It’s very basic,” said his attorney, Gary Fish. “He wants to make a living and the police are interfering with that.”
While an administrative court dismissed the case back in April, Fish said there are too many cops issuing summons to disabled veterans working as food vendors, who get special privileges from the state.
“The police are handing out these summons like candy,” Fish said, “and invariably, these cases get dismissed in court.”
As a protected class, disabled military vets are allowed “absolute blanket protection” to operate as a vendor where they choose, per an 80-year-old state general business law, Fish said, akin to a “get out of jail free card.”
Fish said that Crescenzi’s lawsuit is about making sure police officers understand the law and stop hassling the city’s hard-working disabled military veterans.
Police ignorance surrounding the legal privileges given to the nation’s heroes trying to make ends meet means that “there is an element of egregiousness inherent in each and every summons that’s issued,” Fish said.
“The police have been on notice for quite some time,” Fish told The Post. “These disabled American military veterans have an absolute right to vend.”
Crescenzi, a Gulf War vet who is no stranger to getting hassled by the man, declined to be interviewed.
City officials did not reply to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
