Dave East Cuts a Deal in Cruise Attack Case in NYC

Dave East has one less problem to worry about (with conditions) after allegedly socking a cruise passenger ... but he's gotta stay on the straight and narrow to walk away scot-free.

The Manhattan Criminal Court Clerk tells TMZ the rapper accepted a deal Monday to dismiss his assault charge from a year ago IF he stays out of trouble for the next 6 months. The problem ... trouble has already found him -- DE got cited for battery just last week.

TMZ broke the story ... Dave got caught up in a 3-way gone wrong in Vegas, where a woman claims he punched her after they got into argument during sex. Dave says the woman hurled champagne bottles at him and allegedly struck him in the head, arm and leg.

Both parties were cited for misdemeanor battery, but nobody was arrested. Still ... you'd think that could count against Dave in his New York case. Luckily for Dave, our law enforcement sources say in this particular NYC case -- the clock starts now ... so they won't be looking at Vegas or anything else he got in trouble for in the past.

Now, as for why Dave got this deal ... his attorney, Stacey Richman, tells us Dave, in fact, thought he was helping someone ... and couldn't be proven as the main actor.

You'll recall ... a man claimed Dave had sucker-punched him and cut his eye as he was stepping off a cruise in NYC. The guy claimed the punch came out of nowhere, and seemingly for no reason too.