$80K Paid To Passaic Co. Officer Who Claimed Supervisor Sexually Harassed Her: Report

CLIFTON, NJ — The city of Clifton agreed to pay $80,000 to a police officer who brought forth a sexual harassment suit, and almost $13,000 to the lieutenant she accused of making advances on her according to a report.

The city and plaintiff Jessenia Levy agreed to settle rather than taking the case to trial, according to John Paff of TransparencyNJ.com. Levy, a Hispanic woman, has worked for Clifton as a police officer since 2016 according to the report.

Levy reported that during a Policemen's Benevolent Association convention in 2018, her supervisor Darren Brodie made inappropriate sexual advances including rubbing his penis on her knees and asking her to buy him a drink.

Levy also said that Brodie told another coworker that he would pay $500 to have sex with her while at the convention in Atlantic City, and that threatened to kick another co-worker in the groin if they did not return to a certain bar with Levy, court records show. She said Brodie also threatened to take her off assignment if she did not come back to the bar.

Levy took medical leave after the trip to Atlantic City and said the atmosphere at work changed after she returned, according to Paff's report.

Clifton's internal affairs investigation sustained three of Levy's charges against Brodie: that he had made "numerous inappropriate sexual comments," threatened to change Levy's assignment, and threatened physical violence against a subordinate.

The internal affairs investigation did not sustain Levy's accusation that Brodie had improper sexual contact, because there was insufficient evidence:

"Video was unavailable from the Tropicana gaming floor at the time it was requested and investigators determined that the video from the Borgata Gypsy Bar was of poor quality and of no evidentiary use other than to confirm the presence of the complainant and Lt. Brodie, among others," investigators wrote.

The city paid an additional $12.9k to Brodie to withdraw his appeal of disciplinary charges, Paff reported. Brodie was suspended and demoted in 2019, but has since been reinstated to the rank of lieutenant with a base salary of $169,873 according to Paff.