A Manhattan judge has ordered iconic Greenwich Village restaurant Babbo to hand over video that might identify the person who knifed pro-union inflatable “Scabby the Rat” last year, The Post has learned.
Local 25 claims an employee of the eatery stabbed the gigantic rat during Babbo’s Oct. 27 grand reopening – but it said it needs the restaurant’s CCTV video footage to prove the allegation.
A June 30 Manhattan Supreme Court decision ordered the Italian restaurant to hand over the tape, along with an array of other information, to the union.
That includes the names of diners, possibly staff members at the restaurant that evening and any texts or emails between employees concerning the incident.
Local 25 isn’t actually suing Babbo yet.
But if the video confirms its suspicions, that could change.
“It shows that the court is taking this very seriously,” union staffer Mike Haack said of the recent court order.
Several squad cars pulled up to Babbo after Haack called 911 the night of the attack, and up to 10 officers marched through the dining room looking for a man with a “little paring knife,” Haack previously told The Post.
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.