A depraved NYPD commander turned his precinct into a perverse fraternity, pitting a cabal of jealous cops against a policewoman who rejected his raunchy and incessant advances, according to an explosive lawsuit filed this week.
Maria Delacruz, 33, alleges that Captain Amanjeet Sandhu, her precinct commander in Transit District 1 on the Upper West Side in 2023, “declared his love for her” and “expressed his desire to become her lover rather than remain her supervisor,” according to the complaint filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Delacruz feared retaliation, which is why she initially kept silent about the sexual harassment allegations, she said.
“I didn’t feel like I could reach out to anyone,” the mother of an 8-year-old son told The Post in an exclusive interview.
Sandhu took command in January 2023, and by March, he regularly assigned Delacruz as his driver, according to the complaint.
Throughout 2023, Sandhu “increasingly directed sexually explicit comments toward him,” according to the suit.
He commented on her “breasts, buttocks, face, eyes and body, including calling her a Latina with a big butt and making remarks about her ‘booty,'” according to the lawsuit.
“If I were your man, I would slap him all the time,” Sandhu told him, according to the complaint filed by attorney Eric Sanders.
“Eventually, Delacruz spent entire tours in Sandhu’s office or accompanied him in his department vehicle,” according to the complaint.
When she got up to leave his office, he would make comments such as, “That ass is huge!” according to the lawsuit.
He would also suggest she remove her bulletproof vest, then look at her breasts and bite her lip in a creepy manner when she spoke to him, according to the suit.
He also told her about “dreams in which he had sex with her,” she claims.
Delacruz was repulsed by the constant comments about her body and told her, “What the fuck? Stop,” to no avail, according to the suit.
On one occasion, Delacruz opened his office door and discovered the manager with his pants half down, according to the lawsuit. When he saw her at his door, Sandhu told him to come in, according to the suit.
“He was wearing white underwear and a tank top and Delacruz could see the outline of his penis through his underwear,” according to the suit.
On another occasion in 2023, Sandhu asked her for a ride with him and attempted “to kiss her against her will,” the suit states.
“Delacruz immediately pulled away and pushed him away, stating ‘No, you’re married. Are you crazy?'” according to the complaint.
He told her he wanted her to “consider him as a lover” and “indicated he would leave his wife to be with her,” according to the complaint.
Then, at Patrol Borough Midtown South’s 2023 Christmas party at the Glen Island Harbor Club in New Rochelle, Sandhu grabbed her left arm and pulled her towards him, she claims in the suit.
“You’re coming with me tonight,” he said, insisting they leave together and sleep together, according to the lawsuit. She refused and told him she was going home with her friend, but he continued to squeeze her arm painfully, Delacruz claims in the suit.
By the summer of 2024, sexual rumors about Delacruz and Sandhu “contributed to serious workplace hostility” with other cops — including a confrontation in which she was half-naked in the women’s locker room when another female officer accused her of “shagging the captain,” according to the suit.
Some of his co-workers filed complaints about the alleged relationship with Deputy Chief Steven Mauriello of the Manhattan Transit Bureau, according to the suit.
Delacruz, who insists she never had a sexual relationship with Sandhu, confronted Mauriello in his office on July 17, 2024, according to the suit.
“Why do you say I’m sleeping with Sandhu?” she asked him.
He responded, “I’m not the only one who says that. Everyone here thinks that,” according to the lawsuit.
The Internal Affairs Bureau questioned Delacruz about locker room dust. She planned to tell IAB investigators about the harassment, but Mauriello allegedly pressured her not to disclose that part.
“If you stick to what happened in the locker room, I will make sure you get transferred to wherever you want to go,” she told him, according to the lawsuit.
Delacruz did not inform IAB of the sexual harassment and agreed to the transfer, she said. Maurello did not respond to the Post’s message seeking comment.
“Rather than obtaining meaningful protection, Delacruz found herself pressured to leave TD1,” according to the lawsuit — which seeks unspecified damages — against Sandhu, Mauriello, the police commissioner and others.
Sandhu continued his alleged campaign of harassment and in September 2024, after her transfer, he sent her a missing WhatsApp message containing a porn video, according to the suit.
“The pornographic video showed a dark-haired woman positioned on top of a naked man lying on his back with an erect penis, which she was manually stimulating,” according to the suit.
Delacruz was surprised.
“She reacted with shock and disgust, responding ‘What the fuck?'” the suit states.
In another message after his transfer, he wrote: “I think I should buy you a dildo. How many dildos do you own?” depending on the costume.
He also asked how often Delacruz had sex, how many times she was fucked and how often she masturbated, according to the lawsuit.
Delacruz repeatedly objected, telling him, among other things, “Enough. Stop asking these questions. It’s my personal matter,” according to the lawsuit.
In late 2024, Sandhu sent him a photo of a woman wearing a thong with her breasts exposed and her legs open, the suit says.
Sandhu, who earned $222,138 in 2025, did not return the Post’s call seeking comment.
The officer’s allegations are the latest allegations of sexual harassment and abuse within the New York Police Department, the lawsuit notes.
Retired NYPD Lt. Quathisha Epps alleged in 2024 that former NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey paid her a shocking amount in overtime for sex, a scandal first revealed by The Post.
The Justice Department opened an investigation after the report, but no charges were filed. Maddrey maintained that the relationship was consensual and denied any quid pro quo.
In 2025, NYPD Detective Jeremy Scheublin was fired after being arrested on several criminal charges, including attempted rape of a female subordinate. Scheublin has pleaded not guilty.
The officer filed a lawsuit alleging that Scheublin, commander of the 46th Precinct at the time, told her “I want to make biracial babies with you” while he attacked her in his precinct office in Fordham Heights in the Bronx, The Post exclusively reported.
The NYPD has not yet been notified of the Delacruz lawsuit and will respond to it when it receives it, a spokesperson said.
Delacruz, who has since been transferred to the Manhattan North Patrol precinct in Harlem, said she hopes her story will convince other female officers to report alleged abuse.
“I want to make sure that girls are not sexually harassed and that they feel safe to express themselves,” Delacruz said. “I would love to be that supervisor that someone could come to and feel comfortable enough to tell me what’s going on.”
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