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 judgment that they both “violated federal, state, and civil laws.”
The suit, filed in the Eastern District of New York, also names the New York State Police as a defendant.
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?’
In response, the woman told the disgraced pol that it was “impossible for her to carry a gun in a dress.”
After the encounter, the trooper got a message from the head of her unit, who advised her the interaction would “stay in the truck.”
The woman viewed the message as a “clear order that she not disclose to anyone the Governor’s inappropriate comment.”
On another occasion, 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.
The suit claims DeRosa covered up the governor’s behavior by giving misleading statements to a reporter from The Albany Times Union who asked about how the trooper was transferred to the governor’s security detail.
“DeRosa yelled at the editor of The Times Union and accused him of being sexist for even making the inquiry,” the suit states.
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.
In a statement, an attorney for DeRosa, Paul Schectman, said the claims in the suit are meritless.
“We are only aware of this case from Twitter, but according to the trooper’s own testimony Melissa’s only interaction with her was to say ‘hello and goodbye.’ It is not a viable case anywhere in America and is beyond frivolous,” Schectman said.
Rich Azzopardi, a spokesperson for Cuomo, also attacked the claims in a statement.
“This claim relies on the AG’s proven fraud of a report, as demonstrated by the five district attorneys who, one by one – Democrat and Republican – looked at its findings and found no violations of law. If kissing someone on the cheek, patting someone on the back or stomach or waving hello at a public event on New Year’s Eve is actionable then we are all in trouble,” he said.
A rep for the State Police did not immediately respond.
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan