© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams seems to be on throughout a press convention amid an election fundraising controversy at Metropolis Corridor in Manhattan in New York Metropolis, U.S., November 14, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Picture
By Steve Gorman
(Reuters) – A former New York Metropolis worker filed go well with on Monday accusing Mayor Eric Adams of sexually assaulting her in 1993, when each labored for the municipal transit police bureau, after she went to him searching for assist in navigating a hostile workplace atmosphere.
In a 26-page civil grievance filed in New York state court docket in Manhattan, Lorna Seashore-Mathura alleged that Adams, then a transit officer, assaulted her in his automobile whereas parked alongside the Hudson (NYSE:) River after promising her a experience house to debate her profession issues.
She had trusted Adams and sought his assist due to his position on the time as each a police division officer and chief within the NYPD Guardians Affiliation, a fraternal group advocating equality and honest remedy for Black workers, the go well with stated.
Adams flatly denied the allegations in a press release issued by metropolis legal professionals.
Seashore-Mathura stated the alleged assault capped years of pervasive sexual harassment, discrimination and repeated denials of promotion she had endured as an administrative aide for the town transit bureau, now part of the New York Police Division.
Based on the grievance, Adams agreed to assist her receive a promotion and supplied to drive her house one night to debate the matter, however as a substitute took her to a darkened, vacant lot the place he demanded sexual favors in return for his help.
As described in Seashore-Mathura’s account, she refused his advances and pulled away her hand when Adams forcibly positioned it on his uncovered genitals earlier than he masturbated himself to climax and ejaculated on her contained in the automobile. She says he then dropped her off at a subway station.
Based on Seashore-Mathura, Adams additionally was behind her subsequent switch to a different division the place she misplaced seniority and was pressured from her job throughout layoffs “in retaliation for refusing his quid professional quo sexual calls for.”
The lawsuit was filed beneath New York’s Grownup Survivors Act, permitting accusers to sue over alleged long-ago sexual abuse even when statutes of limitations have expired. Seashore-Mathura reserved her proper to deliver such a go well with in a less-detailed court docket summons initially filed towards Adams in November.
On the time, a spokesperson for the mayor denied the declare and stated Adams didn’t know the accuser or recall assembly her.
In a press release issued on Monday, New York Metropolis Company Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix stated the mayor nonetheless “totally denies these outrageous allegations and the occasions described.”
It provides that Adams in 1993 “was one of the outstanding public opponents of the racism inside the NYPD, which is why the go well with’s allegations that he had any sway over promotions of civilian workers is ludicrous.”
The NYPD Transit Bureau, the Guardians Affiliation and the town of New York are additionally named as defendants within the go well with, which seeks unspecified damages.