A civilian New York Police Department employee has accused her supervisor of sexually assaulting her and threatening to push her in front of a train after their romantic relationship ended.
Ammy Ventura, 40, an evidence and property control specialist, has accused NYPD Lt. Widler Lucas, 41, and the city of New York of sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile work environment in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan’s Supreme Court.
Lucas declined to comment Wednesday. The city’s law department said it will review the case.
The police department said it does not directly comment on a pending lawsuit, but said in a statement Wednesday that “sexual discrimination is prohibited by federal, state, and city laws as well as Department policies, and the NYPD takes seriously all accusations of such behavior.”
It added that the department thoroughly investigates all complaints and does not tolerate discrimination in any form.
In her job, Ventura handled evidence for court, cold cases and rape kits and worked in the Intake Unit at the Pearson Place Warehouse, where she met Lucas in early 2020, the suit 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 Lucas was not in the middle of a divorce though he had previously told her otherwise, the suit states.
The couple’s relationship ended in September 2021 after a trip to the Dominican Republic. During the trip, he told her had “three other female friends with him,” the suit stated.
A few weeks later, Lucas texted Ventura, “I can’t talk I am a married man,” the lawsuit said.
After the pair split, Ventura was subjected to sexual harassment, an assault and threats, the lawsuit alleged.
She “was forced to attend work and endured sexual harassment and retaliation day after day and year after year,” the lawsuit said.
In August 2022, the suit alleges, Lucas forced Ventura to perform oral sex at his office in Brooklyn. The alleged sexual assault, the suit said, occurred after Lucas asked Ventura to work overtime.
She “in no way consented at any time to this act in any shape or form,” the suit states.
Ventura went “completely numb” during the “sexual attack,” and Lucas did not even close his office door during the assault, the suit alleged.
Ventura “immediately confined in her best friend about the violent sexual attack,” the lawsuit states.
About six months after their relationship ended, the suit said, Lucas accused Ventura of telling people about their sexual relationship.
The suit alleged Lucas threatened that if Ventura ever “says anything, I’ll f—— kill you” and “would push Plaintiff in front of a train.”
Ventura’s attorney, John Scola, said Wednesday, the alleged conduct exemplified the NYPD’s culture and how flippant they are toward their women employees.
Ventura’s lawsuit demands a jury trial and asks for compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
