New York Reporter Vince DeMentri Fired For Slapping A Chauffeur

Today in local newsmen: New York newsman Vince DeMentri was relieved of his duties at WPIX Channel 11 yesterday in relation to an incident days before where DeMentri slapped a chauffeur in a fight over a parking space. DeMentri’s lawyer has called the accusation a sham (despite the chauffeur sporting a bloody lip) and plans to sue the station.

This from the NY Daily News:

The trouble-prone reporter was busted by the NYPD Thursday after a bloody-lipped chauffeur went to cops to report the assault on E. 41st St.

DeMentri pulled up to where the chauffeur to the Bahamian UN ambassador was waiting Wednesday and went nuts because he couldn’t find a spot, cops said. The driver, Hurley Senanayake, held his ground, and DeMentri clocked him in the face, then zoomed off in his Audi. The quick-thinking Senanayake took down DeMentri’s license plate number, police said.

DeMentri’s lawyer is calling the whole thing a “sham,” claiming that it’s just a ploy to get money out of DeMentri, and hinting that there is a plan to sue the station for firing him.

Unfortunately for the reporter, his reputation does not help: he had had personal issues at a previous job in Philadelphia with a weatherman and another reporter, with whom he engaged in an affair. He had also impersonated a federal agent to get a story in the past. Good luck with that lawsuit.

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