[ad_1]
The New York State trooper who claims disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo groped her sued him and his longtime aide, Melissa DeRosa, Thursday — saying the governor “violated” her and his right-hand woman helped cover it up.
The woman named in the suit as “Trooper 1” is seeking damages from the duo and a declaratory judgement that they both “violated federal, state, and civil laws.”
The woman claims DeRosa was active in protecting Cuomo, who has consistently denied all claims of illegal activity.
On September 23, 2019, Trooper 1, who was serving as one of Cuomo’s bodyguards at the time, accompanied him to an event at Belmont racetrack, where “she felt violated as the Governor intentionally touched her in intimate locations between her breasts and vagina,”according to the complaint.
“As Trooper 1 went ahead of the Governor to hold a door open for him, the Governor placed the palm of his hand on her belly button and slid it across her waist to her right hip, where her gun was holstered,” her lawyers allege.
A few days after the incident, the trooper says Cuomo asked about her relationship status, “clearly prompted by the now-public fact that he had broken up with his girlfriend” and asked for the trooper’s ad,” the complaint says.
“When she replied she was in her late 20’s, the Governor said, ‘You’re too old for me.’”
The trooper claims Cuomo tried to kiss her, steered conversations towards sex, and made comments on her appearance, once asking “why don’t you wear a dress?’
Once, he ran “his finger down the center of my back of my spine, basically from the top of my neck, basically midway down with his pointer finger and just said, ‘Hey, you’,” according to the complaint.
Cuomo also told the trooper he needs to date someone who “can handle pain,” she claimed.
The incident was detailed in Attorney General Letitia James bombshell sexual harassment report that forced Cuomo to resign in August 2021, but the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute Cuomo for the allegations.
“Our exhaustive investigation found the allegations credible, deeply troubling, but not criminal under New York law,” Nassau DA Joyce Smith said in December.
Cuomo resigned in August 2021 after James’ report substantiated or uncovered 11 women sexually harassed or mistreated by the governor.
None of the allegations against him have led to criminal investigation, all dropped by DA’s who said there was not sufficient legal basis to the allegations and often determined his behavior was inappropriate but not illegal.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
[ad_2]