Mayor Adams has been accused of sexual assault and battery in legal papers filed late Wednesday under New York State’s Adult Survivor Act.
The woman, who the Daily News is not naming to protect her privacy, accused Adams of sexually assaulting her in 1993 when, according to court papers, they both worked for the city. Adams was a police officer at the time.
“Plaintiff was sexually assaulted by defendant Eric Adams in New York, New York, in 1993 while they both worked for the City of New York,” the three-page legal brief claims.
Adams’ accuser is seeking $5 million in relief as well as attorney fees and interest. The legal documents, which were first reported on by The Messenger, also accuse Adams of employment discrimination on the basis of her “gender and sex, retaliation, hostile work environment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Adams denied the accusations Thursday morning, saying, “that is not who I am” and that “people know my character.”
“It absolutely did not happen. I don’t recall ever meeting this person,” Adams told reporters. “I would never harm anyone in that magnitude. It did not happen.”
The accusation comes at a difficult time for Adams.
Federal investigators are now probing his 2021 mayoral campaign’s ties to Turkey. As part of that investigation, FBI agents seized the mayor’s cell phones and raided the homes of his top campaign fundraiser Brianna Suggs and Rana Abbasova, a City Hall aide. The mayor also took a significant hit in a recent Marist poll that found 72% of city residents think he “did something wrong” in connection with Turkey.
Adams has not been accused of any wrongdoing as part of the federal probe, which does not appear to be tied in any way to the sexual assault allegation filed Wednesday.
Adams’ accuser in the sexual assault claim could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Court records show that she has filed at least two other lawsuits over the years. In one, she named American Airlines as a defendant, claiming that an employee’s negligence led to lower back and pelvic injuries after she fell from a wheelchair. Court documents from that case note in 2014 that she “suffered various back injuries from four earlier car accidents, an assault and battery, and a workplace incident.”
The other lawsuit she filed, which named the Miami-Dade County Public Schools as a defendant, was dismissed in 2010, according to court records.
The accuser’s attorney, Megan Goddard, did not respond to calls.
Along with Adams, the woman has named several other defendants in her suit, including the city, the NYPD’s Transit Bureau, the Guardians Association and several unnamed entities.
According to the legal filing, the action will be heard in Manhattan Supreme Court and “the basis for the venue is where the actions complained of occurred.”
The summons filed Wednesday is being made under the state Adult Survivors Act. The deadline to file claims under that law is midnight Thursday. A complaint — and more details around the accusations — have not yet been filed.
With Molly Crane-Newman