Socialite Jacqueline Kent Cooke was brought to tears Wednesday, moments after prosecutors declined to bring hate-crime charges against her for a bloody scuffle outside a Manhattan eatery in January.
Cooke, the daughter of late Redskins owner Jack Cooke, had been accused of calling an elderly woman a “Jew” before bashing lawyer Matthew Haberkorn in the head on New Year’s Eve with her mirrored glass clutch, drawing blood.
Yet prosecutors Wednesday said there was no evidence that the fight, which occurred on the sidewalk outside Upper East Side restaurant Caravaggio’s, was “motivated by hate.”
Instead, the blond 29-year-old will now face third-degree assault charges for the scuffle. She’d previously faced charges of assault with a weapon.
Cooke, clad in a belted navy frock and nude pumps, paused briefly before leaving the courtroom to collect herself, tears in her eyes.
“It’s been a lot,” she sniffled to her lawyer, Robert Caliendo, before stepping out in the bursting flashbulbs.
Prosecutors offered her a three-month jail stint in exchange for a plea deal, noting a previous arrest in Boston for a DWI, in which she called the cops “gay” — but Cooke declined that offer.
Cooke suffered a dislocated finger during the altercation, and had to undergo surgery. Her cast was notably absent Wednesday.
“Hate-crime charges were wholly unwarranted,” Caliendo said in a statement after his client left the courthouse. “The DA correctly decided against them. For a number of reasons, it’s equally appropriate that all felony charges were tossed. After all, Jackie was badly injured after being stalked down the street by a middle aged man, who was aggressively spewing vile language towards her.”
Cooke previously said she never called anyone a “Jew,” and simply told the woman “Excuse me, I have to get through.”
“She clearly didn’t hear what I said, and immediately screamed at the top of her lungs, ‘She called me a Jew!’” Kent Cooke told Page Six.
The woman was Haberkorn’s mother, which prompted him to confront the NFL heiress on the sidewalk as she left with her boyfriend.
Cooke claims Haberkorn, a personal injury attorney, is the one who injured her finger and has filed a cross claim against him.
She’s due back in court July 12.
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