House GOP candidate cost NYC $120,000 in misconduct settlements including for alleged detainment of infant

Alison Esposito, who is running for Congress in New York, cost New York City $120,000 in misconduct settlements while she was a New York police officer.

One allegation said Esposito, who was former GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin’s running mate in the 2022 gubernatorial elections, “did unlawfully stop, assault, frisk, handcuff, detain, arrest and imprison” an infant named Rebecca Cuevas in 2017, according to a complaint filed by Cuevas’s mother.

A spokesman for Esposito’s campaign denied the allegations in the lawsuits and defended her New York Police Department record. “When criminals legally and lawfully are brought to justice, they often seek to scapegoat law enforcement via the courts and the city of New York is frequently forced to settle frivolous and baseless lawsuits in order to avoid costly litigation,” he told City & State.

The two largest judgments were to Cuevas, for $25,000, and a group of three black women who Esposito accused of shoplifting, for $95,000. The latter case was settled in 2005.

In the infant case, Esposito and another officer allegedly entered an apartment building on East 101st Street and “did unlawfully stop, assault, frisk, handcuff, detain, arrest and imprison” Cuevas. An attorney for Esposito responded to the complaint by denying the allegations, arguing that “plaintiffs’ culpable conduct caused or contributed, in whole or in part, to their injuries or damages.”

“Alison did not detain or stop, question and frisk an infant. She proudly served the NYPD for over two decades,” an Esposito campaign spokesperson said.

Esposito received eight complaints through the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, throughout her career.

As for the women, Esposito allegedly violated “the rights of persons, particularly, African-Americans like (the) plaintiffs … with impunity.” She was accused of using force against one of the plaintiffs in the case before she and other police officers charged the three with shoplifting.

Esposito is running against Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY) in New York’s 18th Congressional District, identified as a competitive district by the Cook Political Report though labeled “lean Democrat.” Esposito and Zeldin only lost the governorship in 2022 by 6.4 points, the closest race run by a Republican in the state since 2002.

Decision Desk HQ gives Ryan an 82% chance of winning reelection.