Brooklyn Democrat Sen. Kevin Parker of New York State strongly backed the Adult Survivors Act (ASA) in a 2021 vote; Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) signed the legislation into law in May 2022, although it expired in November 2023.
The now-expired New York law gave victims of sexual assault who had previously exceeded the state’s statute of limitations a one-year interim opportunity to file civil lawsuits against their alleged perpetrators.
The Democratic-controlled state legislature approved the statute to enable plaintiffs like Carroll to pursue Trump with 30-year-old allegations that resulted in significant financial penalties.
Parker faced allegations of raping Olga Jean-Baptiste in her house in 2004, when the latter was assisting the state senator with relief operations in Haiti.
Just before the ASA ended in November of last year, Jean-Baptiste made the accusations.
Even though the revelation caused Hochul to get upset, he did not demand that the Democrat resign when it became known.
“I supported the Adult Survivors Act in order to guarantee that every New Yorker has the opportunity to pursue justice and get recognition,” Parker stated to reporters following the case’s public release.
“These accusations are wholly false. I will keep up my advocacy and work,” he declared.
Since assuming office in 2002, Parker has been involved in several scandals, most notably ones involving his violent temper.
Once he got into a car accident in Brooklyn, he assaulted a traffic cop in NYC who was writing him a ticket. He was charged with misdemeanor assault, but the charges were dismissed once he finished an anger management program.
In 2010, he was again found guilty of minor criminal mischief after pushing and shattering a photographer’s camera for the New York Post. The courts imposed a three-year probationary sentence and mandated that he attend anger management classes.
Following his sentencing, Parker also lost his position as Majority Senate Whip and as head of the Energy Committee.
When it was discovered that Parker had illegally permitted a placard to be placed in a car that was parked in a bike lane that did not correspond to his officially registered vehicle, Candice Giove, a New York GOP spokesperson at the time, complained about Parker misusing his powers in 2018.
It discovered the truth about this. The placard was assigned to Senator Parker. But the placard’s license plate number does not match the automobile. Therefore, he either used it in another vehicle or gave it to someone else, both of which are against the law,” Giove tweeted.
Parker replied to Giove’s post by telling him to “kill yourself.” Giove swiftly erased the message, but not before taking screenshots of it.
The Democrat apologized afterward, but not before launching yet another round of insulting remarks at the Republican spokesperson.
Ironically, Parker also supported a different bill that required law enforcement to check the social media accounts of New York State residents before allowing them to purchase firearms. In 2017, Parker was the primary sponsor of a bill that sought to improve suicide prevention education on college campuses in the state.
