That’s Stephanie Adams who nypost.com describes as Playboy’s first lesbian Playmate. According to her web site, goddessy.com, she’s an author (Goddessy and the New Order of Archangels), astrologer (psychic, tarot and love readings) and aspiring web entrepreneur (aromatherapy oil and incense). And now, courtesy of New York’s finest and a jury award, she’s also a lot wealthier . . .
Adams was in a NYC taxi in 2006 when she got into a tiff with her cabby.
Adams testified that the driver started cursing at her and threatening her, so she called 911 for help — and the crazed cabby followed suit, but made up a tale that she had threatened to shoot him.
Five officers were sent to the scene on high alert, and Adams had several guns pointed at her by plainclothes cops.
She testified that they searched her bags and, despite her following their orders not to move and to keep her hands up, one of them shoved her face down in the street, and kept her there with pressure on her neck and her lower back.
He “mashed my face,” she testified.
She sued the city for excessive use of force. But one of the responding officers begged to differ with her account of what went down.
Sgt. John Rajan testified that she had obeyed his order not to move, but didn’t react when he told her to lie on the ground, so he had to make her do so with “a controlled drop to the ground.”
She also sued the cabby who may not have had a full grasp on the situation. Or reality.
The cabbie who sparked the incident, Eric Darko, defaulted in the suit and was stripped of his hack license after telling TLC investigators that he thought the self-made model was a werewolf who’d threatened him with her “vampire teeth.”
The city also argued that, based on the photos of Adams posing with guns on her website (since taken down), her claim of being traumatized by five coppers pointing their guns at her was perhaps overstating things for dramatic effect. Ultimately, though, the jury sided with the sorceress centerfold celeb, awarding her $1,200,000.
A juror who asked not to be identified called the pictures “a smokescreen,” and said that for the panel, the smoking gun was the spine and neck injuries the spirituality writer suffered in the incident.
“No one should be treated that way,” the juror said.
Given Big Apple cops’ past performance with handguns, Adams’ discomfort at having five of them point their heaters at her was certainly understandable. And as her website prominently states, Good Always Overcomes Evil. We’re sure the taxpayers of the city, county and state of New York will be glad to hear that.