Watching The Cops
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Title: EXCLUSIVE: Jury awards $325K to female NYPD cop who claimed her boss was a pervert obsessed with her panties
Source:
NY Daily News
URL Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york ... ed-perv-boss-article-1.2258171
Published: Jun 15, 2015
Author: John Marzulli
Post Date: 2015-06-15 20:41:17 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 2657
Comments: 3
Officer Augustina Balu accused her boss of being a horndog who often tried to bed her and made comments about her underwear A federal jury has awarded $325,000 to a female NYPD cop who claimed she was sexually harassed by a creepy lieutenant obsessed with the color of her “granny panties,” the Daily News has learned. The verdict came down Friday in favor of Police Officer Augustina Balu, a veteran transit cop who was suing Lt. Denis McAuliffe for allegedly retaliating against her after she rebuffed his relentless campaign to bed her. Jurors rejected the retaliation claims, but found that Balu, 44, was subjected to a hostile work environment and ordered McAuliffe to pay $25,000 in punitive damages on top of the six-figure judgment against the city. Officer Augustina Balu accused her boss of being a horndog who often tried to bed her and made comments about her underwear. Balu’s sworn testimony described McAuliffe as a horndog who couldn’t control himself around the attractive cop who worked for him in the personnel unit of the old Transit Police headquarters on Jay St. in downtown Brooklyn from 2005 to 2011. “He would hover around my work station and he would always know what color underwear I had on...and he would just call out a color as he was walking around the chair or as he was walking away from the desk,” Balu said, according to a transcript. “There was one particular time that he was excited that our color underwear matched and he felt he had to pull his pants down in the office and show me the color of his (light blue) underwear.” McAuliffe, she said, scolded her for wearing “boring” cotton underwear that he called “granny panties,” and suggested they go out shopping for more sexy lingerie. “‘You need more lace,’” McAuliffe said, according to Balu. She also accused McAuliffe of forcibly trying to kiss her and fondle her breast in the office gym. The most disgraceful incident she described occurred after a retirement party in downtown Brooklyn when McAuliffe offered to drive Balu to her car. Once they were inside his car, McAuliffe pounced and started kissing her, Balu said. “I am pulling away and I tell him that I am going to get sick. He tells me, ‘Not in my car,’ so I open the door, I throw up. He takes out a mint from his car, puts it in my mouth and starts kissing me again,” she said. McAuliffe denied all the allegations, but the jury may have had some trouble with his credibility when he said he could not recall if he had ever referred to the NYPD Transit Bureau as a “sex fest,” and could not recall if the number of female subordinates he had slept with was more than 10. Officer Augustine Balu said her boss, Lt. Denis McAuliffe, criticized her for wearing 'boring' cotton underwear and suggested she needed more lace. Balu’s lawyer Fred Lichtmacher said the NYPD was more concerned with protecting its image than investigating his client’s complaint and ruined her career in the process. “One great cop was taken off the street and made a virtual secretary because the brass wanted something from her that she didn’t want to give him,” Lichtmacher said. Balu said she made it clear to McAuliffe that she was not interested in a personal relationship with him after he began dropping Post-it notes on her desk asking for dates and complimenting her looks. She believed McAuliffe refused to endorse a line-of-injury request she submitted because he was miffed that she would not go out with him. Later, she was dumped to a unit that monitors surveillance camera feeds from Times Square. Balu retired in April. “We are disappointed with the verdict and are considering our options,” said a Law Department spokesman. 
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#1. To: cranky (#0)
What a stupid show. I only could handle 69 seconds before I shut it down. This 44 year-old lady cop retired. What's her compensation/pension?
$325K. I checked and couldn't find how many years she had in as a transit cop or any info on how long it takes to vest retirement pay in that union.
#2. To: TooConservative (#1)
#3. To: Fred Mertz (#2)
(Edited)
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