NYPD cop Matthew Schindler was coerced into sex by his female boss at a Queens precinct and driven to suicide by the torment, his wife contends in a lawsuit, DNAInfo.com reported.
Gina Schindler is suing the city, the NYPD and Sgt. Christine Hertzel, whom the widow accuses of forcing her husband to have sex in exchange for decent working conditions. She says the sexual harassment violated the late officer's civil rights, DNAInfo wrote.
Schindler tried to end his trysts with Hertzel on many occasions, but she threatened to give him a poor work schedule and unappealing assignments, DNAInfo noted of the suit, which was filed in Queens Supreme Court.
The New York Post said the suit alleges that on Feb. 13, 2012, Schindler tried to break off the affair one final time, telling Hertzel he was wracked with guilt and contemplating suicide. But she allegedly refused.
Later that day, the 39-year-old father of three became the fourth New York cop to commit suicide within weeks, according to several reports. He pulled his car over on the Long Island Expressway and used his service pistol to shoot himself.
NYPD reps and Gina Schindler's lawyers would not provide comment to DNAInfo and the Post.
In 2009 widow Susan Pigott sued the city and NYPD for the alleged emotional distress her police lieutenant husband Michael suffered after his order to taser a man on a ledge led to the man's death. Michael Pigott killed himself on his 46th birthday. A Brooklyn judge dismissed the suit in 2011.