Public Advocate Wants Manhattan DA To Resign Over Sex Abuse Cases

NEW YORK CITY — Alison Turkos cried as she described the night a Lyft driver held her at gunpoint, drove her to New Jersey and sexually assaulted her. But when it came time to demand District Attorney Cyrus Vance resign his post, her voice was clear.

"No person should ever be met with callous disregard when they are reporting any crime," said Turkos. "Cy Vance and his office should meet us with trust and dignity and respect and that does not happen."

Turkos is not alone in calling for Vance's resignation.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and a dozen advocates stood beside her Tuesday to echo her demands, arguing Vance's handling of sexual assault accusations against Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Dominique Strauss-Kahn were evidence of a dangerous pattern of leniency.

"You have said none of these crimes and none of these victims are as important as your connections to the people who are in power and the people who give you money," Williams said.

"The name Cy Vance has now been sullied ... He should walk away now."

The District Attorney's office responded to Patch's request for an interview with a comment from Vance, who said his office did not shy away from prosecuting New York City's elite.

"Our career prosecutors do not shrink from the challenge of prosecuting powerful men," Vance said. "Our Office fights day in and day out for survivors of sex crimes ... irrespective of the wealth, power, or race of their assailants."

Williams admitted he hesitated on his decision to renounce Vance, an official elected by citizens of New York County, but decided new evidence showed the district attorney's handling of high profile sex abuse cases left New York women unprotected.

Last week, Evelyn Yang, the wife of ex-presidential candidate Democrat Andrew Yang, announced she was among dozens of women assaulted by Dr. Robert Hadden, a Columbia University gynecologist who avoided any jail time in a plea deal.

The District Attorney's decision not to pursue a trial frustrated and upset Yang, who said in a CNN interview a dozen of women, herself among them, would have been willing to testify.

"He was getting off with a slap on the wrist, basically," Yang said.

Vance argued the plea deal assured punishment for a "serial sexual predator" whose conviction he could not guarantee in court.

"While we stand by our legal analysis and resulting disposition of this difficult case, we regret that this resolution has caused survivors pain," he said.

On Tuesday, advocates linked his decision not to pursue a trial to his 2015 choice not to prosecute Weinstein — the disgraced media mogul currently facing rape and sex assault charges — after an Italian model said she'd been assaulted.

In 2011, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office recommended Epstein, the late Upper East Side financier who was charged with child sex trafficking, be granted the lowest sex offender status despite accusations that he abused dozens of girls.

"He is protecting his homies who he hangs out with over the weekends," said activist Tamika Mallory, a leading organizer of the 2017 Women's March.

"If I am abused, attacked, raped in this city, [I fear] that this particular district attorney will stand with my rapist if they have money and a little bit of prestige."

Activist Rev. Kirsten John Foy called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Vance's handling of sexual assault cases.

"We see a pattern of allowing high powered white men to escape justice," she said. "We have no confidence in Cy Vance as district attorney of the County of New York."

Turkos, who filed suit this year against the NYPD for mismanaging her case, said she wants Vance to resign because he represents the highest tier of a widespread problem within the New York City legal system.

She argued Vance set the tone that allowed a Brooklyn detective to mishandle her case — losing evidence, failing to call witnesses and allowing an accused kidnapper to roam free — without fear of reprisal.

"There's a hierarchy," said Turkos. "Vance is at the top."