Mayor Adams and the woman accusing him of sexual assault worked for the city’s Transit Police Department at the same time, according to an NYPD official and court records reviewed by the Daily News.
The woman, whose name is being withheld by The News due to the sensitive nature of her claims, filed a notice in Manhattan Supreme Court late Wednesday saying she plans to bring a lawsuit against Adams alleging he sexually assaulted her in 1993 while they “both worked for the City of New York.”
The notice doesn’t elaborate on the claim, and it was filed just 24 hours before the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, which has allowed sexual misconduct victims to sue their alleged abusers even if a statute of limitation is lapsed.
In 1993, Adams — who has vehemently denied the assault accusation — was an officer in the city’s Transit Police Department, which used to be a separate entity from the NYPD. He started out at Transit Police in 1984.
The mayor’s accuser did not say in her notice what city agency she was employed by at the time of the alleged assault, but an NYPD spokesman said late Friday that records show she worked for the Transit Police Department between November 1980 and October 1993.
During her employment, the spokesman said she took multiple leaves of absence, though the exact dates for them were not immediately available.
Testifying under oath in 2009 as part of a lawsuit she brought against American Airlines in federal court in Florida, the accuser said she started working as an “administrative aide” for the city Transit Police Department around 1980, which matches the NYPD spokesman’s timeline.
“I was called in to work as a full-time police administrative at the central records section. I would work from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. in the morning,” she testified at a jury trial held in that case on June 23, 2009, according to a transcript reviewed by The News.
She testified she “eventually” received a promotion at Transit Police to become a “senior police administrative aide.” Without providing a year, she also testified she worked for a brief period at the city Department of Probation.
She did not make clear in the testimony when exactly she left the Transit Police Department. Her court notice does not make clear what month of 1993 the alleged assault took place.
She did testify as part of the 2009 court proceeding that she moved to Florida after getting a job at a health center there in 1996. The woman’s LinkedIn profile states she then started working as a public school teacher in the Miami area in 2000.
The woman, whose court notice said she’ll seek at least $5 million in damages as part of her suit against Adams, could not be reached for comment Friday. Her attorney, Megan Goddard, declined to comment.
It’s unclear when the woman plans to file a full complaint elaborating on her accusation. In addition to Adams, the woman’s notice says her lawsuit will name as defendants the NYPD’s transit bureau, the city and the Guardians Association, a fraternal police organization that the mayor used to be president of while in the department.
Addressing the woman’s accusations in an appearance on the “Good Music, Good Times” talk show Friday morning, Adams called her case an “out‑of‑nowhere lawsuit” and said he does not “recall who this person is or if I ever met them.”
“I really don’t know, but I am extremely clear on how I live my life, and at no time did anything like that happen. It absolutely never happened. It’s not who I am. I would never harm anyone,” said Adams, who retired as a captain from the NYPD in 2006 after becoming part of the department when it merged with the Transit Police agency in 1995.
The mayor also confirmed the city Law Department will represent him in the assault case.
Manhattan Councilwoman Gale Brewer, a Democrat who chairs the Council’s Oversight Committee, questioned how Adams would be able to have the Law Department represent him, given that the woman’s accusations predate his time as mayor.
“This needs scrutiny,” she wrote on Twitter in reference to the mayor’s talk show comment.
A City Hall spokesman said it’s within Adams’ right to use the Law Department since the case relates to his time as a city employee.
The mayor’s accuser has filed a number of lawsuits.
She brought the federal suit against American Airlines after claiming an employee’s negligence resulted in her falling out of her wheelchair during a trip to Japan, causing back injuries. That suit was dropped without the airline paying damages.
She also filed a lawsuit against Miami-Dade County in which she claimed she was abused by students, including “a 6-year-old,” while working as a teacher. That suit was dismissed.
As first reported by NBC4, the woman has a book for sale on Amazon.com offering pro se legal advice based on “many years spent fighting for myself and others in various courts” including “small claims, civil, circuit, family, lower appellate, and the United States Supreme Court.” One piece of advice offered in the book’s description: “Never give up. You just may win.”
The assault lawsuit comes at a perilous time for Adams.
The FBI is investigating his 2021 campaign over allegations that it conspired with the Turkish government to funnel illegal foreign money into the campaign’s coffers via straw donors. Adams has not been accused of wrongdoing in the probe, which is ongoing.
With Tom Tracy
