NYC mayor is accused of sex assault in suit
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was accused in a lawsuit Monday of sexually assaulting a woman in 1993 and demanding a sexual favor in exchange for his help advancing her career in the police department.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Manhattan, offered the first public details of a sexual assault claim brought against the mayor in November.
Adams, a Democrat, has vehemently denied the allegations and said he does not remember ever meeting the woman. A sexual assault “absolutely did not happen,” the mayor told reporters last fall.
According to the suit, the woman was seeking a promotion in the city’s Transit Police Department when she sought help from Adams, then a police officer and high-ranking member of the Guardians Association, a fraternal organization that advocates for Black members of law enforcement.
The lawsuit says that he offered to drive her home from work and then drove to a vacant lot, where he offered to help her, but said he “also needed some help.” She said that while while sitting in the parked car, Adams demanded oral sex.
After she refused, she said he exposed himself and masturbated, according to the lawsuit. Adams then said he had to get back to work, and dropped her at a Manhattan subway station, according to the suit.
“Adams preyed on her perceived vulnerability, demanding a quid pro quo sexual favor,” the suit states, “revealing himself not to be the ‘Guardian’ he purported to be, but a predator.”
A spokesperson for Adams provided a statement attributed to the city’s corporation counsel, Sylvia O. Hinds-radix, which described the allegations as “ludicrous.”