A Manhattan judge has directed Babbo, the famed Greenwich Village Italian restaurant, to turn over surveillance footage that could help identify who slashed the pro-union inflatable known as “Scabby the Rat” during an incident last year, The Post has learned.
The dispute stems from Babbo’s Oct. 27 grand reopening, when Local 25 says a restaurant employee stabbed the oversized rat used in labor demonstrations. The union says it needs the restaurant’s CCTV footage to support that claim.
In a June 30 ruling, Manhattan Supreme Court ordered Babbo to provide the video, as well as other materials sought by the union.
The required disclosures include the names of diners, possible staff members working at the restaurant that night, and any texts or emails between employees discussing the incident.
Local 25 has not filed a lawsuit against Babbo at this point.
However, union representatives have indicated that could change if the footage backs up their allegations.
“It shows that the court is taking this very seriously,” union staffer Mike Haack said of the recent order.
Haack previously told The Post that several police cars arrived at Babbo after he called 911 on the night of the alleged attack, and that as many as 10 officers went through the dining room searching for a man carrying a “little paring knife.”
Haack had brought “Scabby” to Babbo to protest labor practices by owner Starr Restaurants — operated by Stephen Starr — which also owns Buddakan and Pastis.
At the time of the assault on “Scabby,” Haack was looking in the other direction when he heard a “hissing sound” and observed a man who had just emerged from the restaurant wearing a dark suit similar to the uniform that the wait staff were wearing, he said.
“As I turned, he’s walking and he is holding a knife – a little paring knife,” Haack recounted at the time.
“Then the man holding the knife immediately walks back into the restaurant.”
Moments later, “Scabby” emitted the “hissing sound” from an 8-inch hole on its right thigh.
The police search failed to produce a culprit, and Babbo told the officers they’d need a subpoena to get its surveillance video.
Scabby, which costs about $7,000, was patched up after the incident.
“We use these large balloon rats to exercise our First Amendment rights,” Haack said.
Local 25 reps hospitality workers in the Washington, DC, area, where Starr has restaurants the group wants to unionize.
Starr Restaurants and its legal counsel Troutman Pepper Locke did not respond to requests for comment.
