“Bitch, do you know who I am?” Pearson shouted at one employee before throwing her to the ground, the lawsuit alleges.
By Gwynne Hogan
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Three shelter security guards are suing the city and Mayor Eric Adams’ embattled former advisor Tim Pearson, alleging he attacked them last fall when they asked for his identification at the entrance to a midtown migrant shelter.
“Bitch, do you know who I am?” Pearson shouted at Arrow Security employee Leesha Bell, as he grabbed her by the neck with both hands and threw her to the ground, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in State Supreme Court. He also physically shoved two other guards, Terrance Rosenthal and Angelica Weldon, in the altercation, according to the lawsuit.
Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for the city’s Law Department, which is representing Pearson in a series of four sexual harassment lawsuits he faces, declined to comment on the latest lawsuit against Pearson. Pearson’s personal lawyer Hugh Mo, who is representing Pearson in the federal inquiry into Adams and his associates, didn’t return a request for comment immediately.
The chaotic scene was first reported on by the The New York Post and the New York Daily News last October, citing police sources who said the shelter guards had “exceed[ed] their authority.” A spokesperson for Adams also defended Pearson saying he had been “accosted by a contractor operating the site.”
But THE CITY obtained eyewitness testimony from a dozen shelter workers filed as part of an internal report on the incident where all of them described Pearson attacking the guards first when he failed to show identification.
Bell and Rosenthal were both arrested and held at a precinct for hours, where the New York Times later reported, Pearson tried to intimidate them and threatened that they would be fired.
Ultimately the Manhattan District Attorney dropped the criminal charges against both guards, but the incident has caused the three security guards “severe emotional distress,” the new lawsuit alleges. Jason Steinberger, an attorney for the three guards, said only Rosenthal continues to work for Arrow Security.
The three guards are seeking monetary damages for verbal abuse, physical abuse, false arrest and false imprisonment perpetrated by Pearson, the NYPD and other city officials.
“The city of New York and the Mayor Eric Adams knew Timothy Pearson was not qualified to serve in his administration and despite continued substantiated allegations of misconduct and knowing he posed a risk to the safety of others, they continued his employment and unnecessarily exposed him to the public,” Steinberger said.
‘Crumbs’
Pearson, Adams’ longtime pal close advisor, resigned last week, one of a string of high-profile resignations in the month since federal investigators seized the phones and raided the homes of a cadre of top Adams officials. Adams was subsequently indicted on five federal corruption charges, while Governor Kathy Hochul reportedly urged Adams to clean house of problematic members of his inner circle like Pearson.
Ahead of the latest lawsuit, Pearson was already facing four lawsuits from police officers who worked under him at the Municipal Services Assessment, a shadowy unit created by an Adams executive order, to conduct spot inspections of other agencies and find savings. The suits allege Pearson repeatedly sexually harassed a female officer and then retaliated against her and others when they tried to report the abuse.
Those lawsuits also describe Pearson, who had a powerful role granting and blocking city contracts related to migrant shelters, regularly talking about seeking kickbacks from city contracts, which he described as “crumbs,” earning him the nickname “Crumbs” among staffers.
The city is covering Pearson’s legal fees for the civil cases against him, while he hired a private attorney to represent him in the federal inquiry. While the scope of that federal investigation inquiry isn’t yet clear, it may possibly center around city contracting. Pearson had his phones documents and cash from his Long Island home last month.
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