A Long Island man busted for allegedly slugging the former gal pal of bigoted billionaire NBA owner Donald Sterling was released after his arraignment on reduced charges Wednesday.
Dominick Diorio, 40, of Old Bethpage, was initially charged by cops with assault as a hate crime, but prosecutors filed a complaint in which the top count is third-degree assault, a misdemeanor that carries up to a year behind bars.
He was released without bail after appearing before a judge in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Diorio allegedly told investigators he “slipped and fell” when he allegedly struck V. Stiviano — who secretly recorded racist rants by Sterling, leading to the forced sale of the Los Angeles Clippers — outside the Gansevoort Hotel on Ninth Ave. in the Meatpacking District on Sunday.
“A girl threw a phone at me and I ducked, slipped, and hit my head,” Diorio allegedly said.
“Yeah, I’ll f—ing hit a girl. I’ll hit you, you n—– bitch.”
Diorio’s attorney, David Scott Smith, told reporters there was no incident at all and suggested the visor-obsessed ex-gal pal of the disgraced sports owner was seeking attention and lying.
“I’m confident that as this case goes forward and the investigation continues, that Ms. Stiviano’s allegations will likewise begin to fail and at the end of the day the assault charge will be demised as well,” Scott Smith said after the arraignment.
“Simply put, a credible victim of a crime does not have her attorneys call the press before she calls he police. Ms. Stiviano seems intent on keeping her name in the spotlight.”
The case was adjourned to July. Prosecutors said they are still weighing whether to seek hate crime charges.
Meanwhile, a new picture of Stiviano and Sterling, obtained by InTouch, has emerged showing her jokingly holding a knife to the ousted NBA owner as the pair ate at a Los Angeles steakhouse in 2013.
“It was typical V., being crazy,” said Rachel Rodriguez, who was friends with the couple.
