Knick center Eddy Curry was slapped with a shocking sexual-harassment suit yesterday by his former driver, who claims the 6-foot-11 hoopster tried to solicit gay sex from him.
Stunning court papers charge that Curry, a married father of several kids, repeatedly approached chauffeur David Kuchinsky “in the nude,” saying, “Look at me, Dave, look” and, “Come and touch it, Dave.”
Curry, 26, also made Kuchinsky perform “humiliating tasks outside the scope of his employment, such as cleaning up and removing dirty towels [into which Curry had ejaculated] so that his wife would not see them,” the Manhattan federal court suit says.
Kuchinsky, 36, who is straight and Jewish, also alleges racism, saying Curry hurled slurs at him, including “f- - - ing Jew,” “cracker,” “white slave,” “white devil” and “grandmaster of the KKK.”
Curry, a former Chicago Bull, said last night he was “shocked” at the allegations. “It’s false, and everyone who knows me knows I’m not a racist,” he said after the Knicks beat the Hornets in New Orleans. “I’ve never made a comment like that, playing, or nothing. . . . That’s incredible, man.”
The sexual allegations recall a 2006 lawsuit by Knicks marketing VP Anucha Browne Sanders, who claimed then-General Manager Isiah Thomas made advances on her. She settled for $11.5 million after winning at trial.
And in an episode reminiscent of some elements of the manslaughter case against former New Jersey Net star Jayson Williams - who fatally shot a limo driver - Kuchinsky’s suit also claims Curry pointed a “fully loaded” gun at him on at least two occasions.
“Look, I have one in the chamber,” Curry allegedly said.
Kuchinsky, who worked for Curry from October 2005 through October 2008, says he was hired as a 24/7 chauffeur for the hoop star and his family, and lived in the basement of their Chicago mansion.
But shortly after starting work, he “progressively became Curry’s ‘house-boy,’ ” his suit says.
He wants $98,000 plus compensatory damages from the Knick, whose contract pays him $9.4 million this year. Damage claims typically can go up to $5 million in state court, Kuchinsky’s lawyer said.
Kuchinsky says he is owed $68,000 in unpaid wages, as well as $25,000 in expenses for which Curry never repaid him. Those expenses, he said, included cellphones that Curry had him buy as gifts and hotel and club bills. “Instead of paying him, they discriminated against him,” said Kuchinsky’s lawyer, Matthew Blit. “Imagine going into your boss’ office . . . and he stands up and drops his pants and he asks you [to] take care of him.”
Curry, who has played just 2 minutes, 38 seconds this season because of knee injuries, said last night that Kuchinsky had contacted a friend of his, “and every time, it was something different.”
“First time, it was to curse me out,” Curry said. “Second time, it was to apologize. Third time, it was ‘If Eddy doesn’t call me, I’m going to sue him.’ I just never, ever thought it would go past what it did, which was just idle threats, money-or-else kind of stuff.”
Curry’s lawyer, Kelly Saindon, said Kuchinsky began making a series of claims for unpaid wages several months ago, upping the ante each time. Saindon said Curry took a chance on hiring Kuchinsky despite the driver’s criminal record, which includes a three-year prison sentence for a 1992 burglary in New Jersey. He also got three years’ probation in a 2004 resisting-arrest case in the Garden State, records show.
“It’s shocking that Eddy opened his home to a convicted felon out of prison, and gave him a job when he couldn’t find a job, and this is what comes out of it,” Saindon said.
Kuchinsky’s lawyer conceded his client’s “troubled past,” but said that was all behind him.
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