A New York lawmaker is accused of rape in a lawsuit filed under the state’s expired adult survivors law
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A Brooklyn state lawmaker has been accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman early in his legislative career when he went to her house to discuss disaster relief efforts in Haiti.
The lawsuit filed on Friday accuses Senator Kevin Parker of assaulting her in 2004 during his first term. The woman said she was working with Parker to coordinate the delivery of materials and donations to Haiti after devastating floods affected the country and other neighboring Caribbean islands.
The lawsuit was filed under Adult Survivors Act, a state law that created a one-year suspension of the usual time limit for defendants to file a lawsuit. The law is scheduled to expire after Thanksgiving.
A spokesman for Parker, a Democrat, did not immediately comment when asked about the lawsuit.
A spokesman for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said these allegations are “deeply disturbing and we take them very seriously.”
“We will take appropriate action as more information becomes available,” company spokesman Mike Murphy said.
The woman said in the lawsuit that the assault happened after Parker came to her apartment to take photos from a visit she had made to Haiti. Parker represents a part of Brooklyn with a large Caribbean and Haitian community.
After they finished discussing her work, the woman stood up to say goodbye when Parker grabbed her wrists, took her down the hallway to her bedroom, made a sexual comment, and then raped her, the lawsuit says.
Emails and phone messages left for the woman’s attorney were not immediately responded to. The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly.
In 2005, Parker was arrested and charged with third-degree assault after punching a traffic cop who had given him a parking ticket twice, according to the British Daily Mail. newscast since then. That same year, a former assistant accused Parker of threatening her after she publicly complained that he pushed and hit her when she was working for him.
Parker was too convicted Charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief in 2010 after he stalked a New York Post photographer and damaged their camera.
