A college student who was brutally raped by a club promoter on her first day of work at a swanky Midtown bar is suing him and the business, saying it failed to protect her from the sicko predator.
The woman — a former dance major who filed her suit anonymously in Manhattan Supreme Court last week — says trendy Blue Midtown and its owner, Dream Hospitality, is legally liable for her rape by since-two-time-convicted rapist and club manager and promoter Christopher Macias in September 2021.
Just two weeks before the plaintiff was attacked, Macias raped another college student, a freshman, inside his car, her suit notes.
“I showed up as an employee, ready to work, bright eyed, full of hope, and I left scarred, traumatized and victimized by him,” said the plaintiff, a college senior at the time, to The Post. “And that’s at fault of these clubs and of these people that are hiring him and allowing him into a place of position.
“In the nightlife industry in New York City, it’s all too common,” she said of such horrific situations.
The woman and her lawyer said the nightlife world needs to do a better job of protecting its workers.
“We hope this lawsuit will send a clear message to employers that they have a responsibility to protect their employees from sexual harassment and assault,” said the victim’s lawyer, Mark Shirian. “No one should have to endure the trauma and pain that our client has suffered.”
The woman added that she wants all employees to be more aware of how people in power can take advantage of others.
She recalled for The Post how her first — and only — day at the club began with Macias showing off his rolodex of industry players as he showed her around.
“He knew what my goals were,” she said. “He knew what I wanted to achieve. And he kind of used that in a way to make me trust him and make me feel like I had to, you know, stick with him if I wanted to be successful.”
She said that in retrospect, “he knew exactly what he needed to do in order to make me, you know, trust him.”
At the end of her shift after 4 a.m., Macias offered her a ride home, she said. On the way, he pulled off onto a quiet West Village street, where he raped her twice, the woman said. She fought back, and Macias got so violent that witnesses heard her screaming and called the police, she said.
Macias was convicted of raping her and the other college student in January and is now serving an 18 years-to-life sentence in state prison.
While the young woman and her lawyer applauded the prosecution’s work putting the fiend away, they said the nightlife industry needs to do a much better job at trying to weed out such predators, suggesting a background check could have helped signal Macias was prone to disturbing behavior. In 2012, he was accused of shoving a police officer down the stairs in his hometown of Hoboken, NJ.
Either way, employers are liable for the actions of supervisors in the work place when it comes to sex harrasment and other job issues, according to New York’s various human-rights laws, Shirian said.
“So whether they knew or should have known, they are on the hook for the actions of their supervisors,” Shirian said of the club.
His client, who no longer lives in New York City, said she wants this lawsuit to “make sure people are being held accountable.”
The club did not respond to a Post request for comment.
