NY State Trooper Who Claimed Andrew Cuomo Groped Her Sues Him And His Aide

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been sued alongside his longtime aide, Melissa DeRosa, by a New York State trooper for having violated her during an event at the Belmont racetrack in 2019. DeRosa, a longtime aide of Cuomo is also accused of helping cover up the entire incident.

According to the New York Post, the woman, who is identified only as “Trooper 1”, filed the lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York. The trooper is seeking damages from Cuomo and DeRosa on top of a declaratory judgment that says they have both violated federal, state, and civil laws.

Cuomo has been unfazed and consistently denied all claims written by the woman in the lawsuit despite strong claims from the trooper that he had tried to kiss her and steered conversations towards sex during their encounter. On the evening of Sept. 23, 2019, the woman had been standing as one of Cuomo’s bodyguards and escorted him to the event. The trooper alleged that the Governor intentionally touched intimate parts of her body such as her breasts and her vagina. From there, the female bodyguard held a door open for Cuomo at which she said he had placed the palm of his hand on her belly and slid it across her waist to her right hip.

The incidents have been detailed in a sexual harassment report received by Attorney General Letitia James which forced the Governor to resign from his post in August 2021. However, despite an exhaustive investigation that found all allegations credible, Nassau DA Joyce Smith declined to prosecute Cuomo because they were not considered criminal in New York laws.

In the same manner, the lawsuit implicating DeRosa’s cover-up of Cuomo’s unbecoming behavior has also been deemed meritless by her lawyer, Paul Schectman.

The trooper claimed that after the disturbing behavior from Cuomo, she received a text message from the head of her unit advising her that her encounters with the Governor should “stay in the truck”. In their lingo, this would be taken as a direct order to not disclose any information about the incident.

In her complaint, the woman claims that DeRosa covered up Cuomo’s behavior by providing misleading statements to a correspondent from The Albany Times Union. The suit explained that DeRosa had yelled at the editor of the outlet and accused him of being a sexist for even asking about the incident.

After the findings of the investigative report had been dealt with by James, Cuomo has been linked to substantiated or uncovered cases of 11 women sexually harassed or mistreated by him.