Local News
Marwa Khudaynazar told The Boston Globe that Segun Idowu allegedly propositioned her at a Back Bay bar the night she was arrested.
The City Hall staffer who was terminated after a domestic incident claims she was fired to protect one of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s prominent cabinet chiefs during a high-stakes election year, she told The Boston Globe.
Marwa Khudaynazar, the former chief of staff at the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, and her boyfriend, Chulan Huang, were both arrested by Boston police last month following a domestic incident at an apartment in Chinatown.
Huang, 26, was also a city employee, working as a neighborhood liaison for Downtown, Chinatown, and the Leather District. The city immediately placed both on unpaid leave and opened an investigation, which resulted in their termination.
Khudaynazar, 27, is charged with two misdemeanor charges of assault and battery on a police officer and domestic assault and battery, according to court records, while Huang is charged with domestic assault and battery. Khudaynazar had visible marks on her wrists, and Huang appeared to have multiple bite marks, according to the police report.
Both pleaded not guilty in court. Multiple attempts to reach Khudaynazar and Huang were unsuccessful.
The fight between the couple began because Khudaynazar “went on a date with” Huang’s boss, he allegedly told police, “and then they booked a hotel room, and she came here to rub it in my face,” according to the police report obtained by Boston.com.
Khudaynazar told the Globe Monday that she was fired to protect Segun Idowu, the city’s chief of economic opportunity and inclusion. Huang was angry the night of the domestic incident because Idowu had propositioned her after they bumped into each other at Hue, a Back Bay bar, she told the Globe.
Idowu allegedly told Khudaynazar that he had rented a room at the Park Plaza Hotel and encouraged her to join him, according to the Globe, which reviewed texts that appeared to back the woman up.
Khudaynazar, who said she had three drinks, offered to drive him to the hotel but declined his offer, the Globe reported. Outside the bar, Idowu kissed her on the lips and repeatedly asked her to reconsider, she told the Globe.
“You’re my partner’s boss. You know that this isn’t appropriate,” Khudaynazar told the Globe she recalled thinking. “I told him before we left the bar, ‘I’ll take [you] to [your] hotel, but I’m not coming up.’”
Khudaynazar also told the Globe that the police exaggerated the claims of assault against her and that she did not use her position to avoid arrest. Khudaynazar was arrested after she allegedly began hitting an officer on the chest, shouting obscenities.
She mentioned her position to emphasize that she knew how domestic disputes could be deescalated, she told the Globe. “Never once was I like, ‘I work at OPAT; you can’t arrest me,’” she said.
City, Kraft, Idowu react to former staffer’s claims
The mayor’s office responded to Khudaynazar’s claims saying that Huang and Khudaynazar were fired because “they had attempted to invoke their public positions to avoid consequences of an altercation with Boston Police.”
During the incident, she and her boyfriend both allegedly mentioned their status as city employees. Khudaynazar tried to close the door on police, saying “we both work for the city of Boston, we both work for the Mayor’s Office,” the report said. Huang allegedly told police from the back of the cruiser that the pair “both work for the city, this is unnecessary,” the report said.
“This conduct by City employees is never acceptable,” a city spokesperson said. “The City’s internal review found no violations of laws or city workforce policies by any other employee. Whenever the City receives an allegation of employee misconduct from an employee, a former employee, or a member of the public, the City’s Human Resources team takes steps to review and takes employment action accordingly.”
Idowu was not involved with their termination, and there have been no allegations of sexual harassment regarding the matter, according to the city.
His lawyer, Jeffrey Robbins, told Boston.com that Idowu was interviewed by the city, and “no finding of any improper, unethical or inappropriate conduct on his part was made, because he engaged in none.” He also denied that any form of sexual harassment took place, calling any allegation of such defamatory and baseless. Through Robbins, Idowu declined to comment.
Boston City Councilor Ed Flynn, a frequent Wu critic, called on Idowu to either resign or be fired shortly after the incident, saying he “failed to provide positive and ethical leadership.” Flynn did not mention Khudaynazar or Huang by name, but the link to the alleged domestic violence incident was clear.
Mayoral candidate Josh Kraft, who has traded barbs with Wu, called the Globe’s report “troubling,” claiming that City Hall’s culture “expressly tolerates sexual harassment.”
“It should be concerning to all Bostonians that we have a Mayor who hasn’t taken allegations of sexual harassment by her senior advisors seriously, but instead has moved to terminate employees that are on the receiving end of unwanted behavior while also protecting the perpetrators,” Kraft said in a statement, noting that voters, “particularly women” should demand consequences.
“As the father of two adult daughters, I would be horrified if something like this happened in their workplace,” he said.
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