Prosecutors detail case against State Sen. Hiram Monserrate
Embattled state Sen. Hiram Monserrate "violently and viciously" grabbed his bleeding girlfriend's arm and dragged her from a neighbor's door as she screamed for help, prosecutors charged Friday.
The scuffle came after Monserrate slashed Karla Giraldo in the face with a broken glass in a fit of jealousy, Domestic Violence bureau chief Scott Kessler said at the lawmaker's first court appearance since his Dec. 19 arrest.
"She got to the bottom of the stairs … (and) rang a doorbell on the first floor. She was screaming," Kessler told Queens Criminal Court Judge Joseph Zayas.
"He pulls so hard … there is also an injury on her wrist as a result of the dragging. She said she bruises easily."
Surveillance videos inside Monserrate's apartment building caught him manhandling his girlfriend in the hallway, Kessler said.
The scene contradicts Giraldo's later statements to police, in which she claims her injuries were accidental, he said.
"As I walked down the hallway of the apartment building with Hiram, I refused to go to the hospital, but Hiram insisted that I go for my own good," Giraldo wrote in a handwritten affidavit his lawyers gave the court.
"Thankfully (he) forced me to go for my own good," she wrote.
Giraldo - who has not pressed charges - showed up in court with her lawyer to ask the judge to rescind her order of protection against Monserrate.
She was not allowed into the courtroom and did not speak to reporters. The judge upheld the full order of protection.
Monserrate's lawyers accused prosecutors and police of harassing the victim until she incriminated Monserrate.
Lawyer Irving Seidman accused District Attorney Richard Brown of orchestrating the arrest in retaliation for Monserrate's prior criticism of the office.
"This is called retribution," Seidman said.
Monserrate proclaimed his innocence.
"I have said it was an accident, my girlfriend has said it was an accident, and at the end the truth will prevail," Monserrate said, flanked by two dozen supporters - most of them female.
"The truth is the light and it will protect me."
The New York Daily News
The scuffle came after Monserrate slashed Karla Giraldo in the face with a broken glass in a fit of jealousy, Domestic Violence bureau chief Scott Kessler said at the lawmaker's first court appearance since his Dec. 19 arrest.
"She got to the bottom of the stairs … (and) rang a doorbell on the first floor. She was screaming," Kessler told Queens Criminal Court Judge Joseph Zayas.
"He pulls so hard … there is also an injury on her wrist as a result of the dragging. She said she bruises easily."
Surveillance videos inside Monserrate's apartment building caught him manhandling his girlfriend in the hallway, Kessler said.
The scene contradicts Giraldo's later statements to police, in which she claims her injuries were accidental, he said.
"As I walked down the hallway of the apartment building with Hiram, I refused to go to the hospital, but Hiram insisted that I go for my own good," Giraldo wrote in a handwritten affidavit his lawyers gave the court.
"Thankfully (he) forced me to go for my own good," she wrote.
Giraldo - who has not pressed charges - showed up in court with her lawyer to ask the judge to rescind her order of protection against Monserrate.
She was not allowed into the courtroom and did not speak to reporters. The judge upheld the full order of protection.
Monserrate's lawyers accused prosecutors and police of harassing the victim until she incriminated Monserrate.
Lawyer Irving Seidman accused District Attorney Richard Brown of orchestrating the arrest in retaliation for Monserrate's prior criticism of the office.
"This is called retribution," Seidman said.
Monserrate proclaimed his innocence.
"I have said it was an accident, my girlfriend has said it was an accident, and at the end the truth will prevail," Monserrate said, flanked by two dozen supporters - most of them female.
"The truth is the light and it will protect me."
The New York Daily News
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