NYPD Captain Sexually, Religiously Harassed Muslim Worker: Suit

NEW YORK CITY — An NYPD captain asked a woman colleague for her underwear, followed her children-filled vehicle and made a crude joke about animal sacrifice related to her Muslim faith, according to a recent federal lawsuit.

The woman's $7 million discrimination lawsuit against Capt. Antonio Pagan in Manhattan federal court accuses the cop of peppering her with sexual requests and offensive comments about her faith — sometimes in the same breath — over years.

The complaint filed May 23 also accuses NYPD brass of failing to address her "harrowing" experiences.

"For us, it’s an issue of accountability within the NYPD, or lack of accountability,” said Deborah Kick, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on the woman's behalf.

An NYPD spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit, as did one for the city's law department.

Patch is not naming the woman who filed the lawsuit as it doesn't identify accusers of sexual misconduct without consent.

The lawsuit details several accusations made by the woman against Pagan that she said occurred while they worked in the NYPD's communications division. Those include:

• Pagan told the woman he wished her to be his “Arab girlfriend.”
• He also told her, by text, he wanted to see pictures of her in “Muslim” dress.
• Another text message from Pagan to the woman referred to her thighs in a crude, sexualized manner.
• In a series of texts about a runaway animal on Long Island, Pagan expressed “the belief the animal was to be sacrificed for the holiday of Eid Al-Adha, and concurrently expressing concern that Plaintiff was eating enough.”
• At one point, Pagan confronted the woman and told her not be in the presence of a police lieutenant unless he was there. He later texted her that he was displeased because she smiled at that same lieutenant.
• While Pagan and the woman were off-duty, he followed her while she drove her young child and niece. He stopped her vehicle to stop to her, knowing full well that both children were inside.

After the woman complained to a lieutenant, Pagan was transferred out of the communications division in August 2021, the lawsuit states.

But Pagan continued to contact her and send threatening messages as recently as December, according to the lawsuit. No NYPD action other than the transfer has been taken against Pagan, the lawsuit contends.

"Defendants discriminated against Plaintiff on the basis of her sex (female) and religion (Islam), failed to precisely respond to both formal and informal complaints of discrimination, and treated her differently from and less favorably than similarly situated employees who were not female and Muslim...," the lawsuit states.

Pagan, who currently works in the NYPD's Brooklyn Court section, faced one misconduct complaint in 2010, which civilian watchdogs ruled as unfounded, records show. He made roughly $206,000 last year, according to city payroll records.

Another of the woman's attorneys — Kevin Johnson — said the lawsuit exposes and aims to fix a disconnect in how NYPD leadership polices discrimination and harassment within their ranks.

He said the $1 million each sought in the lawsuit's seven causes of action is a budgetary drop in the bucket, noting that a bathroom in a city park typically costs $4 million.

“I think my client’s troubles are more important than a park bathroom,” she said.