In this Feb. 6, 2017, file photo, state Sen. Kevin Parker, D- Brooklyn, stands at the podium, flanked by Senate members during a news conference at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File
A lawmaker from Brooklyn has been accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman early in his legislative career when he went to her home to discuss disaster relief efforts for Haiti.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, accuses state Sen. Kevin Parker of assaulting her in 2004, during his first term. The woman said she had been working with Parker to coordinate the delivery of items and donations to Haiti after a devastating flood that affected the country and other neighboring Caribbean Islands.
The suit was filed under the Adult Survivors Act, a special state law that created a yearlong suspension of the usual time limit for accusers to sue. The law is set to expire after Thanksgiving.
A spokesperson for Parker, a Democrat, did not immediately comment when asked about the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for the Senate’s top Democrat, Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, said the allegations were “extremely disturbing and we take them very seriously.”
“We will take appropriate action as more information is learned,” said the spokesperson, Mike Murphy.
The woman said in the lawsuit that the assault happened after Parker came to her apartment to pick up photos from a visit she had made to Haiti. Parker represents part of Brooklyn with a large Caribbean and Haitian community.
After they finished discussing her work, the woman stood up to say goodbye when Parker grabbed her wrists, took her down a hallway to her bedroom, made a sexual comment, and then raped her, the lawsuit said.
The woman’s lawyer, Bob Hilliard, said in a statement that she “survived unspeakable sexual abuse perpetrated by Senator Parker— and continues to suffer from the trauma that only survivors of unwanted sexual assault can fully understand.”
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