Global Courant 2023-04-13 04:14:26
A civilian employee of the New York Police Department has accused her supervisor of sexually assaulting her and threatened to push her in front of a train after their romantic relationship ended.
Ammy Ventura, 40, an evidence and property control specialist, has charged NYPD Lieutenant Widler Lucas, 41, and the City of New York with sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile work environment in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Supreme Court from Manhattan.
Lucas declined to comment on Wednesday. The city’s legal department said it will review the case.
Police said it would not comment directly on an ongoing lawsuit, but said in a statement Wednesday that “sexual discrimination is prohibited by federal, state and city law, as well as Department of Justice policy, and the NYPD takes all allegations of such behavior seriously. .”
It added that the department thoroughly investigates all complaints and will not tolerate any form of discrimination.
In her job, Ventura handled evidence for court cases, cold cases and rape packages and worked in the intake unit of the Pearson Place Warehouse, where she met Lucas in early 2020, the lawsuit said.
Ventura and Lucas began texting in February 2021 and dating two months later, she said in the lawsuit. The two bonded over going through divorces, but Ventura later learned that Lucas was not in the middle of a divorce, even though he had previously told her otherwise, the lawsuit said.
The couple’s relationship ended in September 2021 after a trip to the Dominican Republic. During the trip, he said she “had three other girlfriends with her,” according to the suit.
A few weeks later, Lucas Ventura texted, “I can’t talk, I’m a married man,” according to the lawsuit.
After the couple split, Ventura was subjected to sexual harassment, assault and threats, the lawsuit alleged.
She “was forced to go to work and endured sexual harassment and retaliation day after day and year after year,” the lawsuit said.
In August 2022, the lawsuit alleges, Lucas forced Ventura to perform oral sex in his Brooklyn office. The alleged assault, the lawsuit said, occurred after Lucas asked Ventura to work overtime.
She “has in no way consented to this act, in any form whatsoever,” the lawsuit says.
Ventura became “completely sedated” during the “sexual assault,” and Lucas didn’t even close his office door during the assault, the lawsuit alleged.
Ventura “immediately locked up her best friend for the violent sexual assault,” the lawsuit states.
About six months after their relationship ended, Lucas said, Lucas accused Ventura of telling people about their sexual relationship.
The lawsuit alleged that Lucas threatened that if Ventura ever “say anything, I’ll kill you” and would “push plaintiff in front of a train”.
Ventura’s attorney, John Scola, said Wednesday that the alleged behavior exemplified the NYPD’s culture and how flippant they are toward their female employees.
Ventura’s lawsuit requires a jury trial and calls for compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
