Ex-auxiliary cop says NYPD bosses pressured her for sex in police van
New York City NY Jan 2 2018 A former auxiliary cop claims her two NYPD bosses teamed up to pressure her for sex in the back of a police van.
The complaint, filed with the state Division of Human Rights, comes just a few months after two other city cops allegedly raped a teen in their NYPD van.
“You hear news almost every day [how] a girl gets raped and dumped in the trash — I was thinking even if I wanted to defend myself, I could not because there are two men,” ex-Auxiliary Officer Huma Ayyaz says.
The one-time volunteer NYPD aide says her ordeal, which unfolded the night of Aug. 22, 2017, as she was returning home from a shift in Queens, “felt like a kidnapping.”
Ayyaz was targeted by married NYPD Officer Andrew Thaler and Auxiliary Police Sgt. Rohnit Singh, she alleges in the complaint, because she comes from a conservative Pakistani Muslim family and they assumed she wouldn’t risk her reputation by speaking out.
She also claims that Thaler “repeatedly” invited her to his home between June and September, saying his wife was away — but that she rejected his invitations.
But on the night of Aug. 22, Ayyaz says, Thaler texted her asking where she was headed — and she “felt obligated’’ to tell him that she was riding the bus home because he was her boss at the 105th Precinct in Queens.
When Ayyaz — who is in her 30s and lives in Queens with her husband, parents, four siblings and in-laws — got to her bus stop, he was waiting in the van with Singh and they insisted she get inside, according to her complaint.
Despite her reservations — she wasn’t in uniform or on the clock — she acquiesced. Both of the men were in uniform, and Thaler was armed, Ayyaz notes.
‘All I remember is everything was dark…My legs were shaking. I was terrified.’
She says she quickly realized something was amiss when Singh, who was driving, took a wrong turn and parked in a dark alley.
“I stayed quiet . . . Officer Thaler, he came and jumped into the back of the seat, sitting really closely next to me,’’ Ayyaz says. “That moment, he grabbed my arm. ”
Meanwhile, she claims, Singh turned off the engine and lights.
“All I remember is everything was dark,” Ayyaz says. “My legs were shaking. I was terrified.”
Thaler “slowly rubbed her arm” and told her she had “very nice skin,” the complaint says.
“Andy,” she allegedly heard Singh say from the driver’s seat, “do you guys want to do it in the car, or do you want me to step out?”
“That increased my fear,” Ayyaz says, so she pulled her arm away. Thaler suddenly “had so much anger on his face,” she claims.
She says he then ordered Singh, “Take Huma home. She’s not in the mood today.”
Ayyaz’s accusations come on the heels of criminal charges against Detectives Eddie Martins and Richard Hall, who have since quit the force, for allegedly sexually assaulting a handcuffed 18-year-old girl in the back of their police van. Both pleaded not guilty.
The NYPD said the matter is the subject of an internal review and declined to comment further.
Ayyaz, who now receives counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, says she became an auxiliary cop in 2013 because “I wanted to make a difference in the community.”
Her badge was revoked “shortly after they learned she was going forward with the case,” said her lawyer, Vincent White.
“We gave [the NYPD] the opportunity to do the right thing [and] they have not chosen to do so, and so we’re going forward with the case,” White added.
New York Post
