Democratic Lawmaker Arrested for Battery and 'Domestic' Kidnapping

Rejection in relationships can be a very painful experience, and no doubt many of us have stories of breakups that didn't go precisely the way we would have liked, if we had the wisdom we have now. However, most of those breakups probably happened in college, or in high school. Also most of them hopefully didn't turn violent. And we probably weren't holding statewide office at the time they happened.

The same cannot be said for one State Rep. Carlos Henriquez, Democrat, from Suffolk, Massachusetts. Rep. Henriquez was apparently having a talk with his girlfriend about their relationship that wasn't going to his liking. His response? We'll let CBS Boston explain it:

He was driving with a woman in her 20′s early Sunday morning. When she asked to get out of the car after an argument, Henriquez refused, police said.

The woman eventually jumped out of the car at 21 Forsyth Street and flagged down an officer at Northeastern University.

She told that officer that she and Henriquez had an argument that turned physical. She was treated at the scene but refused further medical treatment.

Henriquez, a Democrat, was born and raised in Roxbury.

Henriquez has since gone to trial, where more of the details of this peevish and frankly disturbing kidnapping and battery attempt have been exposed to the public. From the Boston Globe:

The woman allegedly assaulted by Representative Carlos Henriquez told Boston police that he repeatedly punched her with a closed fist, strangled her, and that she managed to get away from him only by jumping out of a moving car as it slowed down in the Fenway early Sunday.

The new details of the incident that led to the arrest of the Dorchester lawmaker surfaced in Roxbury Municipal Court today where the 35-year-old Henriquez pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on $1,000 cash bail.[...]

In a Boston police report filed in court, Katherine Gonzalves told Boston police that she and Henriquez were friends and who had recently embarked on an “intimate relationship’’ within the past month.

Gonzalves told police that Henriquez came to her mother’s home around 2 a.m. and picked her up, telling her that he wanted to discuss their relationship. She said the conversation turned tense, and that Henriquez spent the next two hours driving around downtown Boston, and along Storrow Drive and into the Fenway neighborhood - assaulting her and refusing to let her out of his car.

“Ms. Gonzalves stated that Mr. Henriquez had punched her with a closed fist repeatedly and strangled her while she was in his motor vehicle,’’ police wrote in the report. “Ms. Gonzalves stated that every time she attempted to jump out of the car the suspect (Henriquez) grabbed her wrists to prevent her from jumping out of the motor vehicle.’’

During the two hours in the car, police said in the report, Henriquez allegedly seized Gonzalves’s cell phone and removed the battery and SIM card, rendering it useless to her, police said in the report.

Nasty stuff - that is, assuming it's true. We, however, must note that none of this has been proven, and Henriquez could easily be innocent, since at this stage the entire enterprise appears to boil down to a "he said, she said" type of situation. Nevertheless, the story is a refreshing reminder that no one, not even politicians, are above the law.