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A retired NYPD sergeant filed a lawsuit against the department after they failed to address her allegations against a first-grade detective, Neftali Cruz. Cruz allegedly r*ped the retired officer on September 12, 2018, when they were a couple, gave her an STD, and stalked her as well.
The Manhattan Supreme Court suit claimed that the former NYPD officer had allegedly been r*ped by Cruz more than once: first in 2018, and then in the following year. The complainant mentioned that Cruz would often call her and harass her at work as well. He, however, maintained that the lawsuit is untrue in nature.
Trigger warning: The article contains references to assault. Readers' discretion is advised.
51-year-old NYPD officer allegedly "terrorized" his ex-girlfriend by stalking her and harassing her at work
The former NYPD deputy, who filed the lawsuit under the initials A.H., did so at Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday, September 5, 2023. She claimed that the department did not pay much heed to her concerns regarding her ex-boyfriend, Cruz, who is a first-grade detective at the NYPD.
Cruz allegedly r*ped her, stalked her, and harassed her. The lawsuit further claims that the complainant spoke about the same to at least 18 people working at NYPD, as per the New York Post. A.H. and Cruz began dating back in 2018, however, she broke up with him in March 2019. She also claimed that she got an STD because of Cruz.
The ex-deputy claimed that even after she retired, he continued harassing and stalking her. The NYPD detective has been accused of r*ping her on September 12, 2018, while the couple was together.
Just a few days after the alleged incident, on September 25, he visited her again, this time with pizza, trying to reconcile and start over. According to the lawsuit, Cruz, however, soon became violent with her. On October 2, the complainant reportedly spoke to Cruz and confronted him about "escalating physical altercations, including the r*pe less than a month prior."
Cruz allegedly did not take the confrontation too well and yelled at the complainant. The latter further alleged that he drove her to NYPD's 11th Precinct in Queens and challenged her to file a report against him. He told her that nobody was going to believe her "because he was responsible for training all the undercovers in the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau."
As per the New York Post, the complainant further mentioned in the suit that she was kicked out of the car by Cruz, while essentially being in her underwear. According to the lawsuit, A.H. spoke about the alleged r*pe to an employee in the Employee Assistance Unit of the department.
However, despite a mandate, the alleged crimes were not reported. The suit claimed that A.H. had also brought the issue to the union's attention, however, they failed to take necessary action as well.
The lawsuit against Cruz also accuses him of drugging A.H.
The complainant's attorney, John Scola, spoke about the incident and said:
"The NYPD, as a whole, repeatedly fail to protect their women officers from s*xual harassment and as a result force them to work in a toxic culture that views them as s*xual objects."
They continued:
"[If the NYPD had taken] corrective action, the future s*xual crimes against plaintiff would have been prevented."
The lawsuit further claimed that the department was well aware that Neftali Cruz was violent, and yet chose to turn a blind eye to his actions. It stated that the detective had been transferred within the department on multiple occasions for various reasons. He once allegedly threatened to fight and "hospitalize" his supervisor lieutenant, as per the New York Post.
According to court documents, on February 22, 2019, A.H. reluctantly got intimate with Neftali Cruz, as she did not want to upset him. After this, she allegedly contracted an STD from him. The suit claimed that when the woman confronted Cruz, he lost his cool. He allegedly cursed at her and told her that she was lying about the situation.
When the woman broke up with him in March of the same year, he allegedly began harassing and stalking her. The suit also stated that in another incident that took place on June 7, 2019, she went to Cruz's house to return his personal items and also bought a gift for his daughter.
She allegedly felt "abnormally tired" and dizzy on her way back home, and had to return to his house. She then went on to accuse Cruz of drugging her. However, he claimed that the allegations were untrue.
The NYPD has not addressed the lawsuit as of this writing.
