Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday said the three-decade-old sexual assault allegations against him, made by a former NYPD colleague in an explicitly detailed legal filing Monday, “did not happen.”
Hizzoner took pains to dispel the accusation during his weekly “off-topic” media availability, immediately addressing the lawsuit, brought by Lorna Beach-Mathura in New York County Supreme Court in November, seeking to preempt reporters’ questions about it.
“It did not happen, I don’t recall ever meeting this person during my time in the Police Department,” Adams told reporters on March 19.
In the suit, Beach-Mathura accused Adams of demanding oral sex from her in exchange for helping her after she was passed over for multiple promotions in the NYPD Transit Bureau, where Adams was a cop and she was a civilian worker at the time of the alleged incident in 1993. After she refused the mayor’s advances, the suit alleges, he put her hand on his exposed genitals — and when she pulled away, he masturbated on her leg to completion.
Beach-Mathura sought out Adams’ help, the suit says, because at the time he was a leader of the NYPD Guardians Association — a fraternal organization that fights on behalf of Black officers.
She also alleged that Adams retaliated against her for refusing his advances by getting her transferred from the NYPD to the Department of Probation, where she was eventually laid off.
In addition to Adams, the Transit Bureau and the Guardians Association are also named as defendants in the suit.
On Tuesday, Adams further sought to cast doubt on the assault claim by portraying himself as someone who has fought for the rights of disadvantaged people throughout his career.
“Back in ‘93, many of you know, those of you who followed me, I was one of the most outspoken voices for fighting not only police abuse, but also for the rights of people,” he said. “I have been very clear on fighting [for] the rights on behalf of women and I’m going to continue to do that.”
Furthermore, the mayor cited his legacy as a public facing official for over 40 years — taking into account his time as a vocal reformer in the NYPD and as an elected official, and that he has been a “clear, open book” throughout those years.
“For almost 20 years now, I have been one of the most public faces in the city and I’ve always carried myself with the level of dignity that New Yorkers expect from me,” he said.
Not ‘answering specifics’
At multiple points during the news conference, the city’s Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix, who is representing the mayor in the case, stepped in to intercept questions from reporters.
At one point Hinds-Radix said Adams would not be “answering specifics” when a reporter asked how he responds to the detailed nature of the complaint. Later in the event she again jumped in to say “I would rather him not give you what his view is, he will discuss his view with his attorneys as we go about litigating this matter,” in response to another reporter inquiring if the mayor thinks the accusation is politically motivated.
Following the details of the accusations being revealed on Monday, the mayor’s office began releasing statements from a handful of close allies, who defended his character and attacked the credibility of his accuser.
Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Queens), one of the mayor’s closest political allies, casted the lawsuit as “frivolous” and accused Beach-Mathura of having “ulterior motives.” Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn, another Assembly Member and leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, said the accusations “raise eyebrows” because Beach-Mathura has a history of bringing lawsuits and even wrote a book, offering advice on taking pro-se legal action.
When asked about whether City Hall solicited the statements of support, Adams said he was “inundated” with calls and outreach from those seeking to defend him in the wake of the allegations.
“People reach out to me all the time and people were saying ‘Eric, we’ve known you for so many years in this city and we just want to voice our support of you publicly,’” he said. “And they were allowed to do so, to voice their support publicly and I thank them for doing that.”
