United States Sues The Town/Village Of Harrison, New York And Its Fire Department For Discrimination And Sexual Harassment

 

Lawsuit Alleges That the Town/Village of Harrison and Its Fire Department Discriminated and Retaliated Against a Female Firefighter Who Was Subjected to Unwanted Sexual Advances and Harassed by a Senior Male Firefighter

 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that the United States has filed a lawsuit against the TOWN/VILLAGE OF HARRISON (“HARRISON”), the FIRE DISTRICT TWO OF HARRISON, and the HARRISON VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT NO. 1 OF HARRISON, N.Y. d/b/a HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT (“HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT”), alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). HARRISON and the HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT are alleged to have unlawfully discriminated against a female firefighter by creating a hostile work environment and terminating her employment after she reported that a male senior firefighter had harassed and stalked her.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “Sexual harassment in the workplace is abhorrent. All employers, including government agencies, must ensure that sexual harassment is prohibited—not ignored or followed by illegal employment actions against victims, as we allege occurred at the Town of Harrison. This suit seeks to remedy the civil rights violations committed by the Harrison Fire Department and the Town of Harrison, and ensure that Harrison protects its employees’ rights in the future.”

As alleged in the complaint filed in the White Plains federal court:

In 2015, Angela Bommarito (“Bommarito”) joined the HARRISON Fire Department. In her first month on the job, a senior firefighter, Henry Mohr (“Mohr”), pressured Bommarito with unwanted sexual advances. Mohr later also harassed and stalked Bommarito, including by repeatedly following her and calling her on numerous occasions. Further, Mohr used sexually demeaning expletives to describe Bommarito in front of other firefighters. HARRISON and HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT leaders learned of Mohr’s harassment, including through reports by Bommarito. After those officials failed to take any employment action against Mohr and the harassment persisted, Bommarito filed a report with HARRISON’s Police Department. In response, HARRISON’s then-Police Chief told Mohr, in a recorded interaction, that Bommarito’s presence at the firehouse was a “temptation,” which was “hard to resist sometimes,” and that the Police Chief “want[ed] to broker a deal with the Town to make sure this whole thing dies” so that he could get Mohr “out of this situation.” Bommarito subsequently signed a resignation letter prepared by the Police Chief after he threatened to arrest her and report her other relationships to HARRISON’s Fire Commissioners. Soon after, Bommarito attempted to withdraw the resignation, but the HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT proceeded with the termination of her employment.

Following Bommarito’s departure from the Harrison Fire Department, Mohr continued to harass and stalk her. Mohr was eventually arrested for his harassment of Bommarito and pled guilty to harassment in the second degree.  A family court judge also entered an order of protection against Mohr.

Title VII authorizes the Department of Justice to commence an action in the United States District Court against HARRISON and the HARRISON FIRE DEPARTMENT to remedy discrimination on the basis of sex and retaliation in violation of Title VII. The United States’ complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as compensatory damages on behalf of Bommarito.

MAYOR ADAMS’ STATEMENT ON MASK REQUIREMENTS FOR 2-4 YEAR OLDS

 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams today released the following statement regarding mask mandates in schools and daycare centers for 2- to 4-year-old children: 

 

“I have always said that the science will guide us out of the pandemic, and because we have followed the data, which shows that cases are steadily falling, we‘ve beaten back the latest COVID-19 surge. New Yorkers stepped up when we needed them most and have put us on the path to lower risk.

 

“Throughout the current wave, schools have remained the safest places for our children and beginning Monday, June 13, we will make masks optional for 2-4 year old children in all early childhood settings. We still strongly recommend that New Yorkers of all ages continue to wear masks indoors and we will continue to make masks available for any child or school staff member who wishes to continue wearing them. 

 

“I’m with New York City parents and New Yorkers can trust this administration to continue to make the proper public health decisions to keep our kids safe.” 

Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - JUNE 8, 2022

 

Governor Encourages New Yorkers to Keep Using the Tools to Protect Against and Treat COVID-19: Vaccines, Boosters, Testing, and Treatment 

22 Statewide Deaths Reported Yesterday 

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.

"We must keep our guard up and utilize the tools we have at our disposal to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe and healthy," Governor Hochul said. "Get vaccinated and boosted, get tested especially if you are experiencing symptoms, and stay home if you're not feeling well. If you do test positive, talk to your doctor about available treatments."

Today's data is summarized briefly below:    

• Cases Per 100k - 40.59
• 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 31.53
• Test Results Reported - 154,166
• Total Positive - 7,933
• Percent Positive - 5.77%**
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 5.65**
• Patient Hospitalization -  2,072 (-90)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 321
• Patients in ICU - 195 (-15)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 71 (-13)   
• Total Discharges - 310,027 (+364)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 22
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 56,255

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.   

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.     

Important Note: Effective Monday, April 4, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is no longer requiring testing facilities that use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to report negative results. As a result, New York State's percent positive metric will be computed using only lab-reported PCR results. Positive antigen tests will still be reported to New York State and reporting of new daily cases and cases per 100k will continue to include both PCR and antigen tests. Due to this change and other factors, including changes in testing practices, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.   

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 71,670     

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.       

• Total vaccine doses administered - 39,022,728
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 11,129
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 82,251
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 92.6%  
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 84.1% 
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 95.0%   
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 87.5%   
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 79.5%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 72.3%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 82.2%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 74.5%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 90.7%   
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 77.5%  

Each New York City borough's 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows **:   

Borough	Sunday, June 5, 2022	Monday, June 6, 2022	Tuesday, June 7, 2022
Bronx	3.68%	3.70%	3.55%
Kings	4.88%	4.63%	4.25%
New York	6.03%	5.91%	6.26%
Queens	5.58%	5.57%	5.50%
Richmond	5.65%	5.71%	5.15%

Statement from NYGOP Chairman Nick Langworthy on the Recall Election of the San Francisco District Attorney

 

“The recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin is proof that even America’s most liberal voters have realized the disastrous effects of Democrats’ dangerous crime policies. This is exactly why New York Republicans have introduced and fought for passage of legislation that would give citizens the power to recall elected officials. Kathy Hochul has caved to the radical left and will never have the courage to remove woke Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, but under a Republican governor, we will absolutely remove prosecutors who don’t do their jobs. If you don’t enforce the law, your days are numbered. And that is a promise.” 

MAYOR ADAMS, COMMISSIONER RODRIGUEZ ANNOUNCE MORE THAN 100 SAFE STREET REDESIGN PROJECTS TO BE COMPLETED THIS YEAR, MAJORITY IN UNDERSERVED COMMUNITIES

 

Redesign Projects Will Help Improve Safety Around Schools, With Focus on Under-Resourced Neighborhoods

 

Partnership With Northern Manhattan High School Students Resulted in Local Student-Led Redesign With Protected Bike Lanes, Other Traffic-Calming Measures

 New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez today announced that the city is on track to complete more than 100 safe street redesigns in 2022, with most projects located in historically underserved communities and many near schools. One of the projects — on Amsterdam and Saint Nicholas Avenues between West 188^th Street and Fort George Avenue — was led by Northern Manhattan high school students participating in the ‘I Challenge Myself’ afterschool program, in collaboration with DOT. Once an area of speeding and reckless driving, the students worked with DOT to develop a redesign of the street with traffic-calming measures, including two-way protected bike lanes, pedestrian islands, speed cushions, and curb extensions to reduce speeding and improve pedestrian and cyclist safety.

 

“We will never compromise the safety of our students and young people, and equity will always be at the core of our work to protect them,” said Mayor Adams. “We are investing over $900 million in street safety and redesigning 1,000 intersections because every New Yorker should be able to travel across this city without fearing for their life. We have focused relentlessly on the most dangerous intersections and historically underserved neighborhoods, and we will continue to move that work forward as quickly as possible.”

 

“As a former schoolteacher, I know we have much to learn from our students — and so I am grateful for one project that puts many of their brilliant ideas into motion,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “Under the administration of Mayor Eric Adams, we have committed to improving school traffic safety — especially in communities that have been historically forgotten. From speed cameras to street redesigns like the ones we are unveiling today, DOT is using every tool we have to ensure all students are protected from speeding and reckless drivers. We are proud to have worked closely with the ‘I Challenge Myself’ students and staff, as well as the administrations of the nearby schools, to improve traffic safety in their community. The students were instrumental in crafting the street improvement project’s proposal and in securing Community Board 12’s support of the project. We will continue to work with community partners throughout the five boroughs to ensure we’re reducing the number of New Yorkers lost to traffic violence.”

 

“Our students know their communities best — down to how to stay safe on their way to and from school,” said New York City Department of Education Chancellor David C. Banks. “It’s vital that we invest in projects that equitably address street traffic safety, and student voice is the most powerful and essential tool we have at our disposal in this work. I am so proud to see our students driving positive change in their communities working in partnership with DOT to create a safer future with fewer incidents of traffic violence for us all.”

DOT worked closely with students from the ‘I Challenge Myself’ afterschool program throughout the process, meeting for a series of field and design workshops to study the area, collect data, and develop a traffic safety proposal for the street. Their research found frequent speeding and reckless driving along Amsterdam Avenue, which the redesign aims to address. The students presented to Manhattan Community Board 12, helping win the unanimous support of the board’s transportation committee.

 

The Amsterdam Avenue project will deliver much-needed traffic safety improvement measures to seven schools located near the corridor: the College Academy, the Equity Project Charter, High School for Health Careers and Sciences, High School for Law and Public Service, High School for Media and Communications, P.S. 138, and P.S. 189.

 

Along with the improvements on Amsterdam Avenue, the city is slated to complete dozens of other street improvement projects in underserved communities this year. The city is actively working to improve the safety of streets around schools, especially those located in historically under-resourced communities throughout the five boroughs.

 

Other street safety improvement projects near schools include:

• Bronx: East 165^th and 167^th Streets between Prospect Avenue and Simpson Street
• Bronx: Boone Avenue between West Farms Road and Freeman Street
• Bronx: East 158^th Street and Cauldwell Avenue
• Brooklyn: Chauncey Street and Malcolm X Boulevard
• Brooklyn: Linden Boulevard and Atkins Avenue
• Queens: Rockaway Boulevard between Sutphin Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard
• Queens: 34^th Avenue (Open Street) from 69^th Street to Junction Boulevard
• Staten Island: Martha Street and Howard Avenue
• Staten Island: Elson Court and Jules Drive

 

MAN INDICTED FOR SEX TRAFFICKING RAPING AND BEATING TEEN GIRL, AND HOLDING HER HOSTAGE IN SEVEN-MONTH ORDEAL

 

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a man has been indicted on first-degree Kidnapping, Sex Trafficking and Rape charges for sexually exploiting and assaulting a teen girl and holding her against her will.

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant is charged in a 20-count indictment for allegedly beating, raping and sex trafficking a girl who was only 15 years old when she met him. It is alleged that he raped her and held her hostage in various locations for seven months. The defendant allegedly employed a classic trauma bond to keep her with him, instilling fear in the victim while making her believe he cared for her well-being. We will continue our work to hold the defendant accountable for his actions.”

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Albert Lenhardt, 41, who is homeless, was arraigned on first-degree Kidnapping, Sex Trafficking of a Child, Sex Trafficking, two counts of first-degree Rape, three counts of second-degree Kidnapping, second-degree Assault, thirddegree Promoting Prostitution, five counts of third-degree Rape, two counts of third-degree Criminal Sexual Act, second-degree Strangulation, and two counts of fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon on June 6, 2022 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas. The defendant was remanded and is due back in court on August 30, 2022. He faces up to life in prison if convicted of the top charge of first-degree Kidnapping.

 According to the investigation, the defendant allegedly sexually abused the victim approximately every other day between September 2021 to April 2022.

 The defendant allegedly began a relationship with the victim, who was 15 years old at the time, in the summer of 2021 and offered her to stay at his then-girlfriend’s apartment in Brooklyn, where he allegedly began a sexual relationship with the victim against her will and punched, slapped, and choked her. In the fall of 2021, Lenhardt allegedly brought the victim, who had just turned 16, to live in the NYCHA Mitchel Houses in the Bronx and forced her to perform oral sex on an individual in exchange for drugs for Lenhardt. 

 In November, 2021, the defendant allegedly kept the victim in a utility room in a building of NYCHA Mott Haven Houses. At one point, the victim attempted to escape and the defendant allegedly assaulted her and slashed her wrist with a blade, causing a deep wound, and raped her.

 According to the investigation, on January 23, 2022, the defendant allegedly raped the victim in a public park bathroom, then brought her to his sister’s apartment on College Avenue where she was raped again and when she tried to leave the defendant threatened her with a knife. The teen girl was able to text a family member who then called the police. Officers arrived and the victim was able to leave. The defendant escaped. The victim went back to him

 District Attorney Clark thanked Jessica Walmsley, Case Discovery Analyst in the Human Trafficking Unit for her assistance. District Attorney Clark thanked Detective Corey Simpson of the 44th Precinct, and the NYPD Major Case Human Trafficking Team, specifically Detective Judith Moreno, Lieutenant Amy Capogna, Captain Thomas Milano, and Inspector Carlos Ortiz.

 If you have been a victim of human trafficking, we encourage you to contact the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, (718) 838-6535; the New York City Police Department, or the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, (888) 373-7888, or by texting “BeFree” (233733) to the hotline phone number.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez - This weeks Summer Events

Join us for this week’s Screens under the Stars

MOANA

Thursday, June 9th at Ben Abrams Playground between Lydig Ave and Bronx Park East, in partnership with the Parks & Recreation Department we will be screening Moana (PG).

I’m so excited to be hosting these events for our families throughout the Northeast Bronx to get out and enjoy family friendly movies. Our first movie, Paw Patrol was a great success and I can’t wait to see more of you at our upcoming movie nights and family days!

Skate Night

Bring your skate boards, scooters, and roller skates this Friday at 5pm to Bufano Park for a fun Skate Night!