Mayor Eric Adams defended his top adviser and longtime friend Timothy Pearson after a retired NYPD sergeant accused him of repeatedly sexually harassing her and thwarting her promotion within the department in a sprawling lawsuit last week.
“I think he is due due process,” Adams told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the allegations at his weekly press conference at City Hall.
He added that Pearson had helped victims during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, but did not provide any further comments, including whether he was considering any disciplinary action against the former NYPD inspector.
Pearson has known the mayor, who is also a retired NYPD officer, for 30 years. He is currently at the center of several controversies, including the lawsuit and an ongoing city investigation into a violent altercation with security staff at a migrant shelter in Midtown in the fall. During that incident, Pearson reportedly assaulted a female guard and pushed her into a receptionist table. He has been allowed to maintain his duties.
Pearson is now facing a second investigation that stems from the lawsuit, according to Diane Struzzi, a spokesperson for the city Department of Investigation. The news was first reported by the New York Times.
John Scola, an attorney representing Roxanne Ludemann, the woman who filed the civil lawsuit against Pearson, criticized Adams’ response on Tuesday and said City Hall has known about the sexual harassment allegations for nearly a year.
“City Hall should not need a lawsuit to investigate and protect its women employees from sexual harassment in the workplace and must investigate the matter now,” Scola wrote in a text message to Gothamist. “While every defendant is entitled to due process, women employees should not be supervised by Tim Pearson until that investigation has cleared him of wrongdoing.”
Pearson did not respond to a request for comment. Public records show he is paid nearly $243,000 a year as a senior adviser for public safety under the New York City Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit that oversees economic development opportunities for the city.
At the press conference, the city’s corporation counsel, Sylvia Hinds-Radix, left open the possibility that Pearson would be defended by city attorneys against Ludemann’s lawsuit. She said her office would make a determination after conducting interviews, though she did not provide further details.
The lawsuit portrays a broader culture of sexual misconduct within the NYPD and threatens to cast another cloud over the Adams administration as the mayor faces a sexual assault lawsuit from a former NYPD transit bureau colleague over an alleged incident in 1993. Adams has strenuously denied the accusations, saying he does not recall ever meeting the woman.
Pearson has been scrutinized for having a murky and wide-ranging role at City Hall. He is in charge of managing contracts related to the migrant crisis and oversaw a special NYPD unit created by Adams where Ludemann worked.
But according to her lawsuit, Pearson has clashed with NYPD members. The complaint describes an instance when several members of the team Pearson oversaw threatened to resign en masse. Pearson allegedly told them to think carefully about their careers, asking if they knew “what happens to martyrs?”
Adams publicly expressed support for Pearson after reports of the migrant shelter altercation in October, saying he had never witnessed his aide being violent.
“He’s a professional, and the review will determine if we have to do something different in how our procedures are done,” Adams said.
John Kaehny, the head of government watchdog group Reinvent Albany, said City Hall must determine whether the lawsuit against Pearson has merit. But he said the altercation at the Midtown shelter, along with a prior incident at a Randall’s Island migrant shelter where Pearson brought 100 police officers, provided sufficient justification for Adams to place Pearson on leave from his official duties.
“It would make sense given the seriousness of those accusations and how they relate to the abuse of power and police power,” Kaehny said.
This story has been updated with comment from the Department of Investigation.