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Ex-Boston City Hall employee sues city, mayor over claims she was fired to protect top Michelle Wu official: 'Destroyed'

Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald on

Published in News & Features

BOSTON — A former City Hall employee is suing the City of Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu and a Boston police officer, saying the city “destroyed” her life by unfairly firing her to protect a top Wu administration official she had accused of sexual misconduct.

Marwa Khudaynazar, the city’s ex-chief of staff for the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court, a few months after Segun Idowu, the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion, was cleared of any wrongdoing by a law firm commissioned by the city to investigate the misconduct allegations.

“This case centers on a young, aspiring, former city employee, Ms. Khudaynazar, the plaintiff here, whose life was destroyed by those in power at City Hall over a report she made to the police that exposed sexual improprieties of Mr. Segun Idowu, the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion,” the lawsuit states.

“Alarm bells should go off whenever government fails to comply with public records laws. Defying orders by the Commonwealth’s public records division, the city has failed to respond to Ms. Khudaynazar’s request for public records that may show her employment was terminated to protect Mr. Idowu, and ultimately, the mayor, Ms. Michelle Wu, in the upcoming mayoral election.”

The lawsuit went on to state, “The city’s disregard for public records laws frustrates their central purpose — to shine light on government officials’ actions while they are relevant, not months afterwards.”

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the Boston Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.

“Due to pending litigation, we are going to decline to comment,” Boston Police spokesman Sgt. Det. John Boyle said in a statement.

Khudaynazar, 27, and her boyfriend, Chulan Huang, 26, the city’s ex-neighborhood business manager for the Office of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, were fired in May, after their alleged involvement in a domestic dispute at Huang’s Chinatown apartment.

Both were arrested and charged with domestic assault. Khudaynazar was also charged with assault on a police officer. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The police report does not name Idowu, but quotes Huang as saying of Khudaynazar, “She went on a date with my boss. And then they booked a hotel and she came here to rub it in my face.”

Khudaynazar claims that Idowu propositioned her, and that his alleged advances are what caused the altercation with Huang. She claims that Idowu invited her to sit with him and bought her a drink at a bar in Boston while she was waiting for her friend to arrive. Khudaynazar spoke alone again with Idowu again at the bar after her friend left, according to the lawsuit.

“Mr. Idowu made sexual advances, touching Khudaynzar’s lower back,” the lawsuit states. “His (phone) screen showed a reservation at the Boston Plaza Park hotel — Mr. Idowu invited Khudaynazar to join him there. Khudaynazar declined. Mr. Idowu walked Khudaynazar to her car, and he kissed her there. Khudaynzar drove him to his hotel and left him there.”

Idowu, the lawsuit states, is 10 years older than Khudaynazar and was aware that she was dating his employee, Huang.

“Khudaynazar then drove to Mr. Huang’s apartment and told him what happened,” the lawsuit states, before getting into her version of events for the alleged domestic assault that led to their arrests.

She claims investigators never asked her about Idowu’s alleged advances, according to the lawsuit.

“As has been accurately reported, an independent investigation conducted by attorneys engaged by the city to ascertain whether Mr. Idowu had engaged in any improper conduct found that he had not,” Idowu’s attorney Jeffrey Robbins said in a statement. “That is exactly what he said all along, and there’s not much more to say on the subject. With litigation apparently initiated, even though he is not a party to that litigation, he couldn’t appropriately comment further in any event.”

Huang declined to comment when reached by the Herald on Wednesday.

 

Mayor Wu has stated that Khudaynazar and Huang were terminated for their “invoking of official status” as city employees to try to avoid being arrested during a police response.

Khudaynazar disputes the mayor’s assessment, per the lawsuit.

“The breadth, vagueness, and imprecision of this supposed ‘breach’ make clear it is but an excuse,” the lawsuit states. “Khudaynazar’s immediate unpaid suspension and termination five days later without her version of events stands in stark contrast with city policy and/or practice.

“Khudaynazar was fired because her statements to police regarding Mr. Idowu on the evening in question embarrassed Wu, and so damaged Wu’s chances at reelection,” the lawsuit states. “Mr. Idowu propositioning and/or having casual sex with younger office staff disrupts operations, not Khudaynazar telling police she works for the city. The city and Wu did not want this to see the light of day.”

Khudaynazar claims she mentioned her status as a city employee as part of her request to speak with a police supervisor to try to deescalate the situation and prevent Huang’s arrest. The request was “immediately” denied by one of the responding police officers, Luke Payne, who was named in the lawsuit.

“Khudaynazar did not intend to use her status as a city employee to avoid Mr. Huang’s arrest,” the lawsuit states. “She had no power to yield, she is in her 20’s. It’s her second job out of college. It was clear from Mr. Huang’s apartment that they were not higher-ups with any influence.

“She was rather conveying that she is familiar with city and police procedure, she knows her rights, including her right to speak with a supervisor and she knows that her phone call to police does not need to escalate into Mr. Huang’s arrest,” the lawsuit went on to state.

After Huang was arrested and taken outside by Payne, Khudaynazar, who at that point had not been arrested, was alleged to have struck the other responding officer, Cris Santana, in the chest, per the police report and lawsuit. Khudaynazar denies assaulting the officer, per the lawsuit, which states that the alleged assault was not captured on police body cam footage.

Boston Police previously declined the Herald’s request for body cam footage for the incident, while citing a privacy exemption. The Herald’s appeal to the Secretary of State’s office was also denied.

Khudaynazar claims the situation with Payne escalated from there. Santana had allegedly told Payne that she didn’t want to arrest Khudaynazar but she had just assaulted her. Santana had implied at that point that she wouldn’t be arrested, but rather issued a summons. The plaintiff then claims to have asked again to speak to a supervisor, according to the lawsuit.

Payne, who is white, allegedly said Khudaynazar was not getting a sergeant “because he’s busy,” while adding, “Am I speaking English?” Khudaynazar is a non-white immigrant who speaks “perfectly fluent English,” according to the lawsuit.

“Khudaynazar responded to Payne’s racist rhetorical question with, ‘You don’t have to be a dick to me,’ to which Payne responded by immediately arresting Khudaynazar, claiming he was doing so for Khudaynazar hitting Officer Santana,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims that Khudaynazar’s arrest “was contrary to Massachusetts law,” because Payne did not witness the alleged assault on the other officer.

Khudaynazar is seeking emotional, compensatory, and punitive damages, among other relief from the defendants’ alleged actions, which, per the lawsuit, “wrecked Khudaynazar’s life — financially, emotionally and physically.”

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