The former head of the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force filed a suit against Mayor Eric Adams and the city on Tuesday, accusing them of defaming her over an allegation that she mishandled an anti-Asian incident in 2021.
Jessica Corey, a 30-year department veteran, was confirmed as being reassigned from her post on Feb. 16, 2022. Earlier that week, ABC7 News’ CeFaan Kim spoke to Adams to present the allegation, to which the mayor replied, “I don’t want a leader in that area that starts off with saying why something is not a possible hate crime.”
The incident in question involved Korean American commuter Esther Lee, who was spat on and called a “carrier” while riding the subway in October 2021. She caught the moment on video and reported it to police.
However, the responding officer allegedly refused to include the word “carrier” in her report. He also allegedly accused Lee of “taking a situation and blowing it out of proportion.”
None. He said he would not amend my report even though I wrote it in my personal statement. He said that because the perp didn’t call me “Asian carrier” (the use of the word “Asian”) it was not a hate crime. I was appalled.
— Esther Lee (@EstherOkLee) January 8, 2022
Lee said she spoke to Corey later on the phone, but the then-Hate Crimes head allegedly shrugged off her claims as well.
“You know you really should not have filmed him, you really should not have taken your phone and started taking footage of him, because you probably triggered him,” Lee recalled Corey telling her.
Corey maintains that her handling of Lee’s case had been “entirely appropriate and sensitive,” according to the New York Post, which first reported her suit.
That handling reportedly included consultations with the NYPD’s Legal Bureau and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which ultimately decided against prosecuting the case as a hate crime.
In his interview with Kim, Adams said it…
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