The NYPD has shelved its investigation into claims that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer choked an admitted ex-hooker inside The Plaza hotel because his accuser left the country, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
“I think at this point, the case is effectively, at the least, in limbo pending a complainant,” Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis said.
“In a case like this, you definitely need somebody.”
During an interview with cops early Sunday morning, Svetlana Travis, 25, accused Spitzer, 56, of flying into a rage and choking her Saturday night after she told him she was returning to her native Russia, sources have said.
She later changed her account and stopped cooperating with the NYPD then hopped aboard a 7:30 p.m. Sunday flight from JFK Airport to Moscow.
“It’s not a question of the evidence per se. She has to come forward and be interviewed in more detail about what happened and she refuses to do it,” Davis said.
“She’s made it crystal clear that she wanted out and she refused to talk, and she in fact walked out on the detectives at one point and they had no authority to hold her.”
Meanwhile, court records revealed that Travis — who wrote a 2014 tell-all article about working as $5,000-a-night call girl — made similar allegations in an assault suit she filed against another man in 2013.
Travis claimed in court papers that Ernest Atayan “grabbed [her] by the neck, and hit her head on the countertop” in a Brooklyn apartment.
Travis’ suit in Brooklyn Supreme Court also said that when she fell toward the floor, Atayan “kicked her in the butt, causing her to fall further.”
The incident allegedly unfolded at about 3 a.m. on May 19, 2013, following a birthday party at the since-closed New Cats Cafe in Bay Ridge.
Travis and Atayan were among five people who helped Yana Dubrinkskaya carry home her presents and the leftover food, according to the suit.
Atayan and two male friends “refused to leave the apartment,” with Atayan angrily ordering Travis “not to tell him what to do,” the court papers said.
Online court records list the case as “disposed,” and Atayan’s lawyer, Mitchell Elman, said that Travis “made false accusations against my client.”
“No criminal charges were ever brought. She sued him civilly without success,” Elman said.
Lawyer Arkady Bukh, whose firm initially represented Travis, said: “On ethical grounds, we’re no longer representing that lady.”
He declined to comment further.
Spitzer, who quit as governor in 2008 over a hooker scandal, has denied choking Travis inside a $1,000-a-night room at The Plaza.
Spitzer’s lawyer also issued a statement Monday saying that Travis sent an “unsolicited e-mail” after she arrived in Russia admitting “that any allegations of assault were false.”
A high-ranking NYPD source said Spitzer could have been busted “based on [Travis’] original complaint alone.”
“She told the police that he choked her. That’s it. He’s done. You can collar him for assault and let the DA hash it out later,” the source said.