New York City’s former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith’s resignation was reportedly the result of an arrest for domestic abuse, according to the New York Post.
On August 4, Goldsmith stepped down from his post as Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s second in command. His resignation was widely thought to be the result of New York City’s bungled response to last year’s blizzard.
But on Thursday the Post first reported — and NY1 sources confirmed — that Goldsmith’s resignation was the result of a July 30 arrest for “simple assault domestic violence.” The arrest came after his wife called 911 for a domestic dispute in their Washington, D.C. home.
The Post reports that according to a police report of the incident, Goldsmith’s wife Margaret told her husband “I should have put a bullet through you years ago,” after which he allegedly shoved her into the kitchen counter. When she said she was going to call the police, he grabbed the phone and threw it on the ground, breaking it, and then grabbed her and wouldn’t let her go.
“She dug her nails into [Stephen’s] forearms,” the report reportedly said, which allowed her to escape and call the police.
Margaret Goldsmith declined to press charges, denying to the Post that her husband had gotten violent. “There was no domestic violence that occurred between my husband and myself,” she said, adding that the police report has been “misconstrued as well as taken out of context.”
“It was a big mistake,” she said. “I can only tell you it was an enormous misunderstanding. It just got out of control.”
Stephen Goldsmith also denied a violent altercation, saying in a statement: “Although Margaret under oath has affirmed the absence of violence and my actual innocence, I offered my resignation in order not to be a distraction to the mayor and his important agenda for the city.”
Read the full Post report here.
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