A disabled U.S. Army veteran and longtime street vendor has filed an $8 million lawsuit against the city, alleging he was wrongfully arrested while trying to make a living, according to court documents.
Food vendor Armando Crescenzi was operating a food cart at West 34th Street and Broadway in February when he was arrested and served with a summons for “illegal vending,” according to a lawsuit filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“This is very basic,” said his lawyer, Gary Fish. “He wants to make a living, and the police are preventing him from doing that.”
An administrative court dismissed the case in April, but Fish said too many officers were issuing citations to disabled veterans who work as food vendors and get special privileges from the state.
“Police are handing these summonses out like candy,” Fish said, “and these cases always get dismissed in court.”
Fish said that as protected persons, the state’s General Business Law, enacted 80 years ago, gives disabled veterans “full blanket protection” and allows them to work as salespeople anywhere, which he said is like a “get out of jail free card.”
Fish said Crescenzi’s lawsuit is aimed at ensuring police officers understand the law and stop harassing disabled veterans working hard in the city.
Police ignorance of the legal privileges afforded to national heroes struggling to earn a living means “there is an inherently nefarious element to every single summons issued,” Fish said.
“Police have been on the alert for quite some time,” Fish told The Post. “These disabled American veterans have an absolute right to sell.”
Crescenzi is a Gulf War veteran who said harassment from the man was not uncommon, but he declined to be interviewed.
City officials did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
