It seems that Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) doesn’t have the most discriminating standards when it comes to who he employs on his staff: ABC today tells the dark story of Vitter legislative assistant Brent Furer, who was accused in a 2008 criminal case of assaulting his girlfriend with a knife but nevertheless remains on the job at the senator’s office.
Furer, who has worked on Vitter’s staff since 2005, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor threat and property destruction charges after the January 2008 incident involving him and his girlfriend, Nicolia Demopoulos.
Here’s what happened, according to the police report posted by ABC:
After drinking at a restaurant, the two returned to Furer’s Capitol Hill apartment, the report says. Furer “would not let her leave.” He “pulled on her coat, which caused it to rip,” then “pulled out a knife and stabbed [her] in the hand,” the police report says.Charging documents allege that Furer became angry when he found phone numbers for other men in her blackberry. He smashed her phone when she tried to call 911, the records say, and he shoved her to the floor when she tried to leave, then held his hand over her mouth and threw her on a bed.
Demopoulos told police Furer “uttered the words to her, ‘Do you want to get serious.’” Then, the arrest warrant states, Furer “grabbed an unknown object and held it under her neck. The suspect asked the complainant, ‘Do you want to die?’ The complainant replies and she stated, ‘No, I don’t want to die.’”
After a 90 minute standoff, Furer made her promise not to call police, and then allowed her to leave. She fled to a friend’s house, and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. A slash on her chin took eight stitches to close, the police report says.
Furer is a Gulf War veteran who has been arrested on DUIs three times over the years and for cocaine possession once. Vitter’s spokesman told ABC that the senator imposed unspecified disciplinary action on Furer after the 2008 incident.
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