'BAD' LIEUTENANT
Officer claims sex harassment
A female NYPD cop says a lewd lieutenant subjected her to a humiliating campaign of sexual harassment, including pestering her for a threesome and retaliating when she refused.
“A lot of people knew about it and witnessed it and didn’t do anything,” Officer Emily Brucato told The Post of the alleged abuse that led her to file a federal discrimination complaint.
Brucato, 29, was assigned to an East Harlem Housing Bureau in July 2016 when, almost immediately, married Lt. Jonathan Blatt began giving her and another female rookie “too much attention,” according to papers filed by her lawyer, Eric Sanders.
First, Blatt, 35, “handpicked” Brucato as his driver during patrol, the documents say, although “supervisors picking pretty girls to drive them is normal,” the female cop told The Post.
Then, Blatt asked Brucato, “Hey, would you ever have a threesome? It is OK because my wife gave me the go-ahead,” the papers say.
Brucato says she was “mortified” but kept quiet because she feared retaliation as a vulnerable new recruit, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, which paves the way for a lawsuit.
Then in April 2017, Blatt asked the Long Island native in front of another male officer, “Have you ever had sex with a black man?” and made another lewd comment alluding to her sexual preference, according to court papers.
Every morning at roll call, Brucato was overwhelmed with anxiety that Blatt — whose wife was pregnant at the time — would pick her as his driver, according to the documents. When he did, she had to ferry him outside of their patrol area several times to do his personal errands, the complaint says.
In February 2017, Blatt told her to drive him to a Midtown dentist for a cleaning, according to the court papers.
When he got back into the marked car after the appointment, he “moved closely to her face” and asked if his teeth looked good, adding that the hygienist thought he was sexy, she says in the complaint.
Another time, Brucato “had to take him to The Bronx to get his favorite donuts,” the papers say.
The female cop refused all of Blatt’s crude advances, and as a result, he had a supervisor order her to arrest a mentally unstable woman who ended up assaulting her, according to the documents.
“I hope you learned your lesson,” Blatt allegedly taunted.
At her union’s urging, Brucato contacted the NYPD Office of Equity and Inclusion and filed a complaint. Blatt was eventually transferred, and she was reassigned to a precinct in Queens.
This past July, the NYPD office notified her that her sexualharassment allegation against Blatt was substantiated but her retaliation accusation was not, according to Sanders.
Blatt is currently a sergeant assigned to the 46th Precinct in The Bronx.
The NYPD said Blatt was demoted from his position as probationary lieutenant to sergeant “due to an internal investigation.”
Blatt did not return a request for comment from The Post.
But his lawyers, Randolph McLaughlin and Debra Cohen, said in a statement, “He denies the allegations and has denied the allegations regarding this matter internally.
“Allegations of sexual harassment should always be taken seriously, but in this situation, there is a larger story to be told and we intend to get to the bottom of it.”