Categories: Editorial, Opinion

Someone else in the state attorney general’s office will soon have to carry the torch for the rights of women who are sexually, physically and verbally abused.

Let’s be sure that next time, that person isn’t a hypocritical pretender who sexually, physically and verbally abuses women.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Monday, in a mere matter of a few hours, went from an admired national advocate for women’s rights to just another disgraced Albany politician.

His precipitous fall from grace followed a report in The New Yorker magazine Monday that he slapped, threatened and otherwise abused four women with whom he had “romantic relationships or encounters” between 2013 and 2017.

Two of the women accused Schneiderman of repeatedly striking them, often under the influence of alcohol, often in bed and not with their consent. Those two women say Schneiderman slapped them hard across their ear and face and choked them.

One woman suffered long-term physical damage, with ringing in her ears and bleeding. Another woman said she was repeatedly subject to physical violence, and a fourth said Schneiderman slapped her so hard after she turned down a sexual advance that it left a mark on her face.

Two victims said he threatened to kill them if they broke up with him, and another said he threatened to tap her phones and have her followed.

None of the women had ever met or shared their stories with one another prior to the publication of the article, lending credence to their allegations.

Before his resignation took effect Tuesday, Schneiderman tried to deny the allegations, saying the violence was a consensual element of rough sex. The women say otherwise. And anyway, legal experts say it’s difficult to defend choking and physically injuring someone if the victims say the action was deliberate.

Being a hypocrite is no crime. But physically abusing women is.

If our society is serious about protecting women from predators like Eric Schneiderman, then it can’t be satisfied with him being exposed as a two-faced liar. It’s not enough to humiliate him with front-page headlines and rob him of his high-paying state job.

What he’s accused of doing are serious crimes for which, if found guilty, he should pay with his freedom —prison time.

Ironically, it was Schneiderman who as a state senator pushed to make choking — a common tactic of domestic abusers — its own separate crime.

To ensure the integrity of the investigation, it should be conducted by an independent prosecutor who is neither an ally of Schneiderman nor the target of one of his investigations.

Women shouldn’t have to fear sexual, physical or verbal abuse from anyone, nor should they have to fear retaliation for coming forward.

The removal from office and the vigorous prosecution of this powerful man for his crimes against women should empower more to come forward and to help make sure it doesn’t happen to others.