GOP House candidate once sued for arresting infant, forcing New York to shell out $25,000 to baby’s mom

A former New York cop running for Congress was once sued for allegedly detaining an infant, forcing the city to shell out $25,000 to the child’s mother in a settlement.

Republican Alison Esposito is taking on Democratic Representative Pat Ryan in New York’s 18th congressional district which encompasses the upstate cities of Newburgh, Beacon, Kingston, and Poughkeepsie.

Esposito, who was an NYPD officer for more than 20 years, has focused on issues of immigration and crime during her campaign.

“Every victim has a family. Every family hurts. And crime has a ripple effect through our city, through our state, through our communities,” she told Fox News last April.

However twice in her career as a police officer, New York City paid to settle lawsuits from people who accused her of acting illegally.

Esposito was sued by three Black women in 2005 over civil rights violations. In a lawsuit, the women argued they had been wrongfully detained on suspicion of shoplifting. The city later settled the case for $95,000 and the cases against the women were dismissed.

In 2017, Esposito faced allegations that she arrested and assaulted a baby, with the city paying the child’s mother $25,000 in a settlement.

Esposito and a fellow officer went into an apartment building on East 101st Street in 2016 where they “did unlawfully stop, assault, frisk, handcuff, detain, arrest and imprison” infant Rebecca Cuevas, according to a complaint filed by the child’s mother Chantal Vasquez.

Esposito’s lawyer rejected those allegations in a legal filing. Her defense said that the “plaintiffs’ culpable conduct caused or contributed, in whole or in part, to their injuries or damages.” The city of New York later settled the case for $25,000.

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