Andrew Cuomo Sued for Sexual Harassment by State Trooper
Disgraced former New York governor hit with new allegations
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New York's disgraced former governor, Andrew Cuomo, has been hit with a new lawsuit as fresh allegations of sexual harassment emerge from a state trooper.
Cuomo is being sued, along with former aide Melissa DeRosa, by a female state trooper from his security detail.
The suit charges new claims of sexual harassment, with the accuser alleging Cuomo “violated” her and that DeRosa helped cover up the incident.
The suit also names the New York State Police as a defendant in the case and was filed in the Eastern District of New York.
According to the lawsuit, the woman is identified only as “Trooper 1” and claims “she felt violated as the Governor intentionally touched her in intimate locations between her breasts and vagina.”
“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,” the complaint adds.
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“As with his other victims, the governor used his physical proximity to Trooper 1 to touch her inappropriately,” the lawsuit alleged.
Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi spoke out against the allegation, according to an Associated Press report.
"Gov. Cuomo will fight every attempt at cheap cash extortions and is anxious to have the dirty politics stop — we look forward to justice in a court of law," Azzopardi said Thursday.
Cuomo told investigators that he would hug the female trooper and that he “may have touched her shoulder,” according to the report.
He said he didn’t remember additional touching.
“If I did, it was incidental, and I don’t remember doing that,” he said.
DeRosa, accused of helping to cover up the alleged incident, had previously blasted the trooper’s claims in a lengthy statement in November posted to Twitter.
"It’s absolutely beyond the pale for this trooper, who by her own admission I barely knew — who has already attempted to extort me for money — to make these accusations based on false rumors and for them to be printed in a newspaper,” DeRosa stated.
“Not only is this ludicrous, it’s hurtful, and potentially actionable,” she added.
My statement regarding @bern_hogan & “Trooper# 1’s” attempt to extort me pic.twitter.com/h3LEA4ta34
— Melissa DeRosa (@melissadderosa) November 12, 2021
In January, an Albany judge dismissed the criminal case against Cuomo that alleged he forcibly groped one of his aides during his time as governor.
“The dismissal was expected, and inevitable, after Albany County District Attorney David Soares said Tuesday that he was declining to prosecute Cuomo, 64, for allegedly forcibly touching female aide Brittany Commisso at the governor’s Executive Mansion in late 2020,” CNBC reported.
"The charge is a misdemeanor.
“The Albany criminal case, which was initially filed by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office without Soares’ knowledge in advance, was the only criminal case lodged against Cuomo in connection with the alleged harassment,” the report added.
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Commisso issued a statement this week slamming Soares after learning that he was going to drop the case.
"My disappointing experience of re-victimization with the failure to prosecute a serial sexual abuser, no matter what degree the crime committed, yet again sadly highlights the reason victims are afraid to come forward, especially against people in power,” she said in a statement to the Times Union.
"When will our voices uniformly be accepted?
"Where do we go to have our rights vindicated?
"Unfortunately, this is just another example of where our criminal justice system needs to do better," she added.
"To every victim out there silently suffering from sexual harassment at the hands of a powerful government official, wondering what will happen if you tell the truth, please don’t let what has happened to me deter you from speaking up.”
