A lawsuit accusing a gay NYPD lieutenant of fondling himself in front of two male sergeants is costing the city a lot of scratch.

The city has agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim against Lt. Kieran Crowe, who blamed his behavior on jock itch, the Daily News has learned.

Sgt. Dominic Coppola will receive $175,000 and Sgt. Sean Gallagher $125,000 in the agreement hammered out Monday in Manhattan Federal Court, according to their lawyer, Eric Sanders.

“Although our clients are satisfied that the litigation is over, it is further proof that the once-silent issue of same-sex harassment is on the rise,” said Sanders, of the Law Firm of Jeffrey Goldberg in Lake Success, L.I.

Crowe retired from the NYPD in 2008 after he was found guilty in a department trial of rubbing his crotch, simulating masturbation and wiggling his tongue at the sergeants.

According to court papers, a dermatologist testified at the trial that Crowe was treated for jock itch for a decade.

Asked at the trial whether he ever placed his right hand anywhere near his private parts at his Police Headquarters office, Crowe answered: “It is possible because of medical conditions, but never in the way that these complainants have said.”

“He paid nothing, he did nothing, he admitted nothing,” Crowe’s lawyer Rae Koshetz told The News.

“If the city wants to pay these people, that’s their choice.”

Coppola is still on the force, and Gallagher is now the chief of a small police department in Washington State, his lawyer said.
BY John Marzulli
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

www.nydailynews.com

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