Capt. Brian Flynn appears inset, left, against a NYPD 50th Precinct mural. (New York City Police Department)
An NYPD captain is being sued by a female detective for allegedly sending her photos of his penis and engaging in other forms of sexual harassment for 18 months.
Capt. Brian Flynn was transferred to the NYPD’s 50th Precinct in the Bronx in April 2021, according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court. Shortly after his transfer, “he began texting and making sexual comments in real time” to Detective Michelle Almanzar, according to the 10-page filing.
“Flynn continued to send sexually inappropriate text messages, including photos of his penis and towels with ejaculate on them, which appeared to have been taken in his office in the 50th precinct to [Almanzar] on his personal cell phone,” the lawsuit continues.
Ultimately, Flynn sent the detective more than 45 sexually explicit or inappropriate photos and messages, Almanzar’s attorney, Leslee Schwartz, told Fox News.
“I have a treasure trove of images and texts,” said the plaintiff’s lawyer. “I sent them 45, and that’s not even all.”
The filing also claims that in addition to pictures of his “penis and ejaculate,” Flynn repeatedly asked the detective to “go out” with him and send him pictures of herself.
Almanzar, in turn, tried to appease her sexual harasser, according to the lawsuit, by doing “his best to ignore and/or redirect his attention, but that only seemed to make him more aggressive towards her.”
After refusing it, according to the lawsuit, the detective suffered repeated reprisals from the captain.
“Any time [Almanzar] tried to block her on her cell phone or told her to stop, he reacted negatively by forcing her to stay at the station to re-report,” the lawsuit alleges. “He would also deny her requests for personal time for no reason other than her not allowing him to continually harass her.”
For a time, according to the detective’s file, she attempted to mend the tensions caused by her superior’s advances and denials by pretending to be more agreeable to the “incessant” harassment.
“[Almanzar] often allowed him to send her sexually explicit texts because when she tried to get him to stop, not only did she suffer, but he often took out his frustration on his work partner as well as his team,” the filing states.
But, in the midst of it all, the sleuth says, she never sought or accepted any preferential treatment from Flynn – including in a “very specific instance” where the captain allegedly sent Almanzar the following text: “J was going to give you a Commander’s Day. if you just gave me your panties.
Over time, according to the lawsuit, Almanzar developed “severe anxiety whenever she had to approach her desk, which was directly in line with the restroom,” and her anxiety worsened so much” that ‘she even refused to go to the bathroom alone.”
The detective says she was forced to put up with the captain’s behavior for over a year, despite telling him many times that she was married and had no interest in him . Finally, the lawsuit states, in November 2022, “after being denied a day off because she blocked the accused Captain Flynn and informed him that she would not communicate with him, nor allow him to continue harassing her,” Almanzar made an official statement.
The lawsuit alleges that other officers would try to get him to ‘just make him happy’, that everyone on Flynn’s ‘team’ knew about the harassment and that there was a general air of defending the Captain’s actions in the 50th Precinct – and downplaying his behavior throughout the NYPD.
Excerpt from the trial in detail:
On or around January 13, 2023, the day after the applicant met with [Internal Affairs]she arrived at the 50th precinct to find one of the sergeants yelling at her, in front of several other detectives and officers, “You couldn’t just keep him happy, now look, we’re all under the microscope.”
Stunned by his remarks, the plaintiff wondered why a proxy had reported [sic] hadn’t reported the activity himself, he was told, “We thought you liked it.”
Since November 2022, when Plaintiff first informed Defendant NYPD of Defendant Captain Flynn’s misconduct, Plaintiff has been completely shielded from any investigation except to learn “by the vine” that Defendant Captain Flynn was being disciplined for something unrelated to his complaints.
Defendants NYPD and NYC took no steps to ensure that Defendant Flynn did not harass any other employees.
“The Department does not condone sexual harassment and is committed to creating respectful work environments for our diverse workforce,” the NYPD said in a statement provided to multiple media outlets regarding the lawsuit. “The NYPD thoroughly investigates all complaints it receives and offers multiple reporting options to NYPD employees, including anonymously.”
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