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State Police Repeatedly Contacted Paterson Aide's Accuser
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 27, 2010
Modified Mar 2, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 27, 2010
Modified Mar 2, 2010
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More disturbing details about the State Police's involvement in an alleged domestic abuse incident concerning a close aide to Governor Paterson. The NY Times reports that the aide, David Johnson, "reached out to the commander of the governor’s State Police detail the day after an altercation with his girlfriend and asked the commander to call the woman, according to a person briefed on the commander’s actions." The commander, Major Charles Day, was authorized by his superior "to contact the woman, the person briefed on the sequence of events said, and Major Day did so on at least three occasions."
On Halloween of last year, Johnson allegedly choked Sherr-una Booker, as well as ripped her clothes off (he was reportedly unhappy about a costume she was wearing for a party) and slammed her into a mirrored dresser; he also allegedly prevented her from using her cellphone and home phone to call the cops.
Booker eventually did report the incident to the NYPD and sought an order of protection from Johnson—but as the legal wheels were turning, she was repeatedly contacted by the State Police (she said she was being harassed) and was even told by a Paterson staffer to speak with the Governor. Ultimately, the case was dismissed, because Booker didn't appear in court.
According to the Post, "Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating how the Bronx woman at the center of the scandal involving Gov. Paterson came to buy a brand-new, pricey SUV shortly before she dropped her domestic-violence case against a top aide to the governor, The Post has learned... A key question for Cuomo will be how Booker, who earns just under $57,996 a year from her assistant director's job at Lincoln Hospital, paid for the 2010 Lexus RX350 herself -- or whether someone else gave her the money to buy the SUV, and why." Apparently Booker settled a slip-and-fall case with her landlord before the alleged abuse incident, so the money could have come from that.
State Police Superintendent Henry Corbitt admitted to the Times that a trooper visited Booker: "He described the visit as customary in episodes that might attract media attention, an assertion dismissed as false by many inside and outside the State Police." Denise O'Donnell, Paterson's cabinet member who oversaw the State Police, resigned over the matter, saying that Corbitt misled her when she asked if the State Police were involved in the investigation; Corbitt maintains that the State Police weren't involved in the investigation (since a trooper just, you know, contacted Booker).
Tagged
accusation
david johnson
david paterson
governor paterson
scandal
sherr-una booker
state police
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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