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City Councilman Who Fought Against Domestic Violence Arrested for Domestic Violence

Queens Councilman Hiram Monserrate, who was elected to the State Senate last month, was arrested this morning for attacking and cutting his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, with a broken bottle in his Jackson Heights apartment. Afterward, he took her to the hospital and waited around while she was getting treated. Thoughtful.

Ms. Giraldo told hospital staff members that it was Mr. Monserrate who had assaulted her, officials said. It appeared that she had been punched and slashed in or around her left eye with a shard of glass, and officials said it took 20 to 40 stitches to close the wound. A doctor at the hospital, which straddles the border between Queens and Nassau County, called the police at 4:50 a.m.



She apparently didn’t want him arrested, but he had to be by state law. What makes this not merely awful but also very weird is that Monserrate is a known advocate against domestic violence. Two years ago, he helped secure $100,000 in grants for programs “designed to end domestic violence” in Queens. “Today we begin the countdown to the end of domestic violence in our families and communities,” he said in the press release. Er. We guess he’ll start tomorrow?



Queens Councilman Is Arrested [City Room/NYT]

Monserrate Announces $100,000 to Combat Domestic Violence in Growing Immigrant Communities [Press release]

City Councilman Who Fought Against Domestic Violence Arrested for Domestic Violence