ALBANY -- State Senator-elect Hiram Monserrate, a former member of the cadre of Democrats known as the "Gang of Four," was charged with assaulting his girlfriend Friday morning.
The Queens politician, who is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 1, was arrested Friday, according to the New York Police Department. Monserrate, 41, arrived with his 30-year-old girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, at a Queens hospital early Friday morning, the New York Times reported. It appeared she had been punched and slashed around her left eye with a shard of glass. Officials said Giraldo told hospital staff members Monserrate assaulted her, but she did not want him to be arrested when police arrived at the hospital.
Monserrate is a former NYPD officer and founding member of the Latino Officers Association. He was elected to City Council in 2001 and to the Senate last month. He was also one of the four renegade Democrats who withheld support from Senate Democratic Majority Leader Malcolm Smith...Monserrate declared his support for Smith a few weeks after Election Day....
It is unclear whether Monserrate's arrest will affect the Senate's leadership vote on Jan. 7. Under the Public Officers Law, Monserrate would be removed from office if convicted of a felony.
