What you should know
- The New York State Police officer who testified that former Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed her filed a lawsuit Thursday asking a federal court to declare that Cuomo, a top state police officer, violated her civil rights.
- The name of the police was not disclosed in the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan against Cuomo, the New York State Police and Cuomo’s former top aide, Melissa DeRosa.
- The suit seeks attorneys’ fees, damages for “severe mental anguish and emotional distress” and a declaratory judgment that Cuomo, DeRosa and state police violated federal, state and municipal civil laws that prohibit sexual harassment.
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NEW YORK — The New York State Police officer who testified that former Governor Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed her filed a lawsuit Thursday asking a federal court to declare that Cuomo, a top state police officer, violated her civil rights. .
The name of the police was not disclosed in the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan against Cuomo, the New York State Police and Cuomo’s former top aide, Melissa DeRosa. The suit seeks attorneys’ fees, damages for “severe mental anguish and emotional distress” and a declaratory judgment that Cuomo, DeRosa and state police violated federal, state and municipal civil laws that prohibit sexual harassment.
Cuomo resigned in August, days after an independent investigation found he sexually harassed nearly a dozen women and that he and his aides worked to retaliate against one of his accusers. Those accusers included the unidentified state trooper in her security detail, who said he allegedly subjected her to sexual comments and at times ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and back.
“As with his other victims, the governor used his physical proximity to Trooper 1 to inappropriately touch her,” the suit alleges.
“He commented on her appearance (‘why don’t you wear a dress?); he wanted to kiss her (‘(c) and I kiss you?’); he asked her to find him a girlfriend who could ‘handle the pain,’ and steered their conversations toward sex (“(why) would you want to get married?…your sex drive decreases”),” the suit says.
Several district attorneys in New York said they found Cuomo’s accusers “credible” but said the available evidence was not strong enough to bring criminal charges against him.
Cuomo’s spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, criticized the police officer’s demand.
“The [ex]Governor Cuomo will fight all extortion attempts and is eager for dirty politics to stop; we expect justice in a court of law,” Azzopardi said Thursday.
Court dismisses only criminal charge against former Governor Cuomo
Cuomo told investigators he would hug the policewoman and “may have touched her shoulder.” He said that he did not remember running her fingers down her back or touching her stomach.
“If I did, it was incidental, and I don’t recall doing it,” he said.
The police officer’s lawsuit alleges that former aide DeRosa helped “cover up” Cuomo’s sexual harassment.
DeRosa’s attorney, Paul Schectman, said his client only interacted with the officer to say “hello and goodbye,” calling the lawsuit “beyond frivolous.”
A New York State Police spokesman declined to comment Thursday.
The suit also claims that Cuomo and DeRosa tried to silence the police officer and other women who alleged harassment.
According to the publication, the US DOJ would have initiated an investigation into the allegations of sexual abuse in August 2021.
In November, DeRosa tweeted that the police officer “tried to extort money from me.” The lawsuit alleges that by doing so, DeRosa “retaliated” against her, whose attorney in September sent a letter “affirming her legal rights” to Cuomo and DeRosa.
Cuomo recently announced that he would file ethics charges against the independent investigators who led the investigation and alert local prosecutors to alleged “perjury” and “witness tampering.”
“The Governor and his enablers have threatened criminal charges against his victims and ethics charges against their attorneys in a direct but transparent effort to dissuade them, including Trooper 1, from attempting to assert their legal rights under civil laws that prohibit sexual harassment. ”, says the lawsuit.
Cuomo defended a 2019 law that lowered the state’s civil standard for sexual harassment above “small slights and trivial inconveniences.”
He and other supporters said the previous “harsh and pervasive” standard made it too difficult to hold harassers accountable. Civil penalties for sexual harassment in New York include money damages, fines, attorney fees, and orders requiring employers to take action to stop the harassment.
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