Mayor Eric Adams accuser shares graphic details of alleged sexual assault in new suit, calls HIM a ‘predator’ in new court papers Monday. Claims are that he exposed himself to her and asked for oral sex in exchange for helping her in her career when he was a transit cop more than three decades ago. Lorna Beach-Mathura claimed she asked Adams for help as he was the leader of the Transit Bureau NYPD Guardians Association which fights for rights of black employees since she’d been passed over for promotion as a black woman in the NYPD in 1993, according to her bombshell lawsuit.
“Defendant Adams preyed on her perceived vulnerability, demanding a quid pro quo sexual favor and sexually assaulting Plaintiff, revealing himself not to be the ‘Guardian’ he purported to be, but a predator,” charges the Manhattan Supreme Court suit. Beach-Mathura who now resides in Florida but at the time lived on Coney Island claims that Adams drove “her to a vacant lot and request[ed] oral sex from her,” and when she refused he put her hand on his “erect penis,” the filing alleges.
As she took her hand away, Adams allegedly “masturbated himself” and “ejaculated on her,” the suit charges. The explosive filling came after Beach-Mathura submitted a notice of claim in November indicating she intended to sue Adams, but did not provide details of her allegations at the time. Adams denied the claims, and said he didn’t even know Beach-Mathura.
“It did not happen. That’s not who I am. That’s not who I am in my professional life. It’s just something that never took place,” he said at the time. The court papers filed Monday say Beach-Mathura started working in the Transit Bureau for the NYPD in 1980 as a Police Administrative Aide, eventually getting assigned to District 34 on Coney Island where she worked from 1981 to 1986. While she “was determined to advance” she said she was repeatedly passed over for promotions as a black woman who spoke out when she felt wronged, the court papers state.
The promotions she did receive usually came with a “punishment,” like when she was moved up the ladder in 1984, but transferred to District 2, forcing her to commute an hour, according to the filing. So when Beach-Mathura ran into Adams who was a senior member of the Guardians group which actively recruited her she told him about the issues she had rising up the ranks, the suit details. Adams offered to drive her to her Coney Island home after her shift that evening, picking her up in “an official police issued car” and noting he was “on duty” though out of uniform, the lawsuit alleges. Adams allegedly began driving the wrong direction toward the Hudson River, and eventually stopped in “a remote, vacant lot” causing Beach-Mathura to grow “nervous and scared,” according to the suit. Adams said he wanted to “concentrate” on what Beach-Mathura had to say and didn’t want to be “distracted” by driving, the filing alleges.
Beach-Mathura explained her problems at work, prompting Adams to say he could help her but he “‘also needed some help,’ and began rubbing his penis through his clothes with his hands,” the suit claims. Adams told her he “needed a blow job” and repeatedly tried to convince Beach-Mathura to perform oral sex on him, before unzipping his pants and pulling out his “erect penis,” the lawsuit alleges. A “sickened and outraged” Beach-Mathura refused, but he then grabbed her hand and demanded she “give [him] a hand job,” the suit alleges. She replied “NO” but that didn’t stop Adams from allegedly mastubating himself and then ejaculating on her thigh and stocking, the lawsuit claims.
After, Adams “gruffly informed [Beach-Mathura] that he had to get back to work” and dropped her off at a subway station that didn’t go to Coney Island, the filing claims. “It was clear that he was angry at her for refusing his sexual demands,” the suit alleges. At the time, Beach-Mathura kept quiet about the incident, fearing further retaliation. “Plaintiff knew that there was no way for her, a divorced mother of young children, to safely report Defendant Adams through official channels if she wanted to keep her job,” the suit states.
She encountered further career issues when she finally received a promotion in March of 1994 but was transferred to the Department of Probation “which caused her to lose her seniority and [be] placed in a non-supervisory position,” the court papers say. The city carried out mass layoffs a few months later and Beach-Mathura was forced to accept a severance package and leave, the suit says. Beach-Mathura brought claims of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, sexual assault and battery variously against Adams, the Transit Bureau and the NYPD. She is seeking unspecified damages.
“I am proud to file this complaint on behalf of my client, a woman whose strength astonishes me,” Beach-Mathura’s lawyer, Megan Goddard, said in a statement. “She knew that filing this lawsuit would cause her significant personal challenges but she did so nevertheless, because she believes sexual abusers must be held to account, no matter who they are. Her fearlessness and quest for justice are as inspiring as they are important,” the statement continued. New York City Corporation Counsel Hon. Sylvia Hinds-Radix called the allegations “outrageous” and said the mayor “fully denies” the claims.
