Brooklyn Senator Kevin Parker Sued for Alleged 2004 Rape

A Haitian American woman is suing Brooklyn senator Kevin S. Parker for rape, according to a complaint filed Friday in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Olga Jean-Baptiste alleges Parker raped her in her home following a Hurricane relief trip to Haiti in 2004. According to the complaint, the senator asked to visit the then 31-year-old at her apartment to “pick up some photos from her visit to Haiti and the work she had done there.”

Following a brief conversation about her time in Haiti, Parker allegedly “held on to both of her wrists with his hands,”  proceeded to “make a sexual comment” and then assaulted Jean-Baptiste. 

She brings her claim under the New York’s Adult Survivors Act (ASA) which allows a one-year window for adult survivors of sexual assault to file civil suits past the statute of limitation. More than 2,500 lawsuits have been filed since the law passed last year. ASA, however, expires after Thanksgiving.

Parker, who represents sections of Brooklyn with a large Haitian constituency, has been faced with legal challenges before. In 2005, he was arrested and charged with assault for punching a traffic agent who was in the process of writing him a ticket. The charges were later dropped after he agreed to take anger management classes. 

“The allegations against Senator Kevin Parker are alarming, as I have known him to be a man of integrity and a community-oriented public servant,” said Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn.

“As the Brooklyn Democratic Party chair, I support alleged victims of sexual assault speaking out and take allegations extremely seriously. With that, I am also adamant that any alleged offenders deserve their constitutional rights to due process and are innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.”

As for Jean-Baptiste, she is requesting a trial by jury and for the jurors to decide an award amount if the case is found in her favor.