Disability bias suit: Worker ridiculed, teddy bears beheaded
NEW YORK — A former aide to a New York City Council member says the lawmaker and a senior member of his staff subjected him to cruel bullying that included decapitating the stuffed animals on his desk and locking him in a basement.
Michael Bistreich, who has Asperger syndrome, filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city and Brooklyn City Councilman Vincent Gentile on Tuesday.
In the disability discrimination suit, Bistreich said Gentile and his former chief of staff, John Mancuso, ridiculed him because of his disorder, which the group Autism Speaks says is “on the high-functioning end” of the autism spectrum.