The Bayside man exonerated by DNA after being wrongfully jailed for almost nine months is suing the city for more than $133 million, his lawyer said.
Kenneth King was charged with the attempted rape and sex abuse of a woman in Whitestone in September 2011.
The early morning attack along the Cross Island Parkway near 148th Street was foiled by former marine Bryan Teichman, who spooked the assailant and who later hesitantly picked King out of a lineup, according to the complaint filed against the city.
“I hope to God I am making the right choice,” the complaint shows him saying. “I think it’s #2.”
King was released last June from Rikers Island, where he spent most of his imprisonment, after DNA retrieved from the victim’s sweater did not match his, said defense attorney Scott Dufault. His case was dismissed a month later.
The free man is now suing the city for “negligently and intentionally” depriving him of his Constitutional rights, the complaint says. He is seeking monetary compensation from lost pay, attorney fees, physical injuries and emotional distress.
The defendants listed in the suit include the city’s Department of Corrections, the Queens district attorney’s office, the NYPD and its Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Dufault told The Courier last year that King is struggling to get back to his former life after losing his job as a plumber’s assistant while he was locked up.
He also suffers from severe back and leg pain and numbness in his arm from mistreatment at Rikers, the complaint says.
The victim never identified King herself, the lawsuit says, and the description she gave of the perp’s eyes and hair color did not match King’s. The DNA test was also done six months after the attack, though defense attorneys say they requested it be taken immediately.
The city’s law department declined to comment as it awaits a formal copy of the complaint, a spokesperson said.
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