New York jury awards female NYPD officer $325,000 in sexual harassment lawsuit

A female New York Police Department officer was awarded $325,000 (£208,366) by a jury after suing her lieutenant for sexually harassing her between 2005 and 2011.

According to court records, 44-year-old officer Augustina Balu claimed Lieutenant Denis McAuliffe of the Transit Bureau in downtown Brooklyn grabbed her breast and told her to wear sexier underwear than her "granny panties".

The lieutenant's harassment also included showing Balu pornography, forcing his tongue in her mouth and showing her his own underwear, the NY Post reported.

"Balu turned around to push McAuliffe back," her lawsuit stated. "He began again to try to feel up and down Officer Balu's shirt."

Balu also said: "He would hover around my work station and he would always know what colour underwear I had on ... and he would just call out a colour as he was walking around the chair or as he was walking away from the desk ... There was one particular time that he was excited that our colour underwear matched and he felt he had to pull his pants down in the office and show me the colour of his (light blue) underwear."

The lieutenant and the city, however, denied Balu's claims of sexual harassment. A city Law Department spokesman told reporters: "We are disappointed with the verdict and are considering our options."

Balu's attorney Fred Lichtmacher told reporters that the NYPD was more concerned with protecting its public image than investigating Balu's complaint. "One great cop was taken off the street and made a virtual secretary because the brass wanted something from her that she didn't want to give him," he said.

The officer, who retired in April, said she believed McAuliffe refused to endorse her line-of-injury request. She was later assigned to a surveillance monitor unit.

The NY Daily Mail reported the jury rejected Balu's retaliation claims but did find she was subjected to a hostile work environment. She was awarded $300,000 in compensatory damages and $25,000 in punitive damages.