The Westchester County cop who was arrested for allegedly sending menacing texts to herself after blaming colleagues was involved in a sexual relationship with the department’s police chief, according to a new lawsuit filed by two ex-officers.
Ossining police officer Emily Hirshowitz, who was charged earlier this month over the texting scandal, “was having an ongoing sexual relationship” with Ossining village police chief Kevin Sylvester, the lawsuit claims.
The chief allegedly filed a complaint with the Westchester District Attorney’s Office in August 2022 over the threatening texts on Hirshowitz’s phone, and tried to blame one of the ex-officers now suing the village for the messages, the lawsuit claims.
“Sylvester … conducted numerous interviews of police officers, directly asking each officer if they were aware the Officer [Louis] Rinaldi was sending the texts to Officer Emily Hirshowitz,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit against the village and various village officials argues Sylvester tried to point the finger at Rinaldi “despite having no evidence to support his accusations.”
Officers Rinaldi and Andrea Zambrano filed the legal action earlier this month, accusing Sylvester of unfairly forcing both of them to resign from their positions, interfering in their pursuits for other police jobs.
Even after Hirshowitz was arrested last month for allegedly falsely claiming others sent the texts, Sylvester allegedly doled out a lighter punishment compared to discipline he previously imposed on the two plaintiffs tied to departmental charges, the lawsuit states.
She was charged with four counts of third-degree falsely reporting an incident and another three counts of first-degree filing a false instrument.
“Sylvester told [village officials] that Hirshowitz had been set up by Plaintiffs Rinaldi and Zambrano and personally recommended she not be suspended without pay,” the lawsuit states.
Hirshowitz was suspended, but with pay following the charges.
The two ex-officers claim they were suspended without pay after facing internal departmental charges by Sylvester in recent years.
The lawsuit brought forward a slew of other allegations against Sylvester, who the pair claimed targeted them because they butted heads with him.
Rinaldi resigned in May and Zambrano resigned in July 2020.
The village’s legal counsel reportedly scoffed at the accusations in the suit.
“Some (claims) are so ludicrous that you don’t dignify them with a denial,” lawyer Brian Sokoloff told The Journal News.
“It appears to me to be a lawsuit out of spite,” Sokoloff added. “Allegations are easy and talk is cheap.”
He didn’t address specifics within the lawsuit, but questioned if the two plaintiffs have evidence to back up the allegations.
The lawsuit comes about a week after the criminal charges were filed against Hirshowitz.
Hirshowitz originally claimed in May 2022 that she was receiving anonymous threatening texts that involved “a fellow police officer or multiple police officers at my department,” requesting the county’s prosecutors investigate, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Journal News.
Police and local officials were so alarmed by the messages’ “increasingly threatening content,” through the summer, they reached out to the district attorney’s office to investigate, before Hirshowitz said she wanted to drop the complaint on August 12.
And then on August 23, Chief Sylvester called for a department-wide meeting to discuss the messages that was attended by village elected officials, the lawsuit states.
A search warrant was issued for Hirshowitz in October for her phone and digital accounts, The Journal News reported.
The criminal complaint noted that somebody known to the district attorney’s office appeared to have sent some texts that were probed, though did not note who.
Rinaldi was reportedly brought up several times during the probe into the messages, and his lawyer, Michael Santangelo, previously told The Journal News the former officer was the subject of an investigation.
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July 12, 2023 at 07:58AM
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