Second Woman Claims Abuse While Dating Mirkarimi
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - An ex-girlfriend of San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who has been accused of abusing his wife by bruising her arm in an incident on New Year's Eve, has told police Mirkarimi was also allegedly abusive toward her when they were dating.
The woman, who requested in the police report to remain anonymous but has been identified in interviews with media outlets as Christina Flores, filed a police report (.pdf) at the San Francisco Police Department's Northern Station on Sunday afternoon.
She told police she met Mirkarimi at the Haight Street fair in June 2007 and dated him until December 2008. During that time, she said, Mirkarimi showed a "raging pitbull aggressiveness," according to the police report.
In one incident, she told police, he pinned her against a wall and shook her, bruising her upper arm.
The report states that the relationship ended after Mirkarimi confessed that he had been seeing a woman from Venezuela and that the other woman was pregnant.
The report states that the alleged victim said she didn't come forward at the time because she felt humiliated, but filed the report now in light of the current domestic violence case against Mirkarimi.
Mirkarimi, 50, made a court appearance Monday morning and had a trial date set for the domestic violence case.
He will go on trial on Feb. 24 on three misdemeanor charges of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. He pleaded not guilty to the charges last Thursday.
KCBS, CBS 5 and SF Chronicle Insider Phil Matier Comments:
Mirkarimi will next be in court this Thursday, when his attorney Bob Waggener will argue for the removal of a stay-away order that is preventing him from contacting his wife Eliana Lopez and the couple's 2-year-old son Theo.
Lopez denied being abused by her husband at last week's arraignment and also asked for the stay-away order to be lifted.
Prosecutors had sought the order, citing an arrest warrant affidavit in which Mirkarimi is accused of leaving a bruise on Lopez's right bicep during an argument on New Year's Eve.
Lopez told a neighbor, who has since been identified as Ivory Madison, about the incident and Madison called police after taking a video of Lopez, who said Mirkarimi had threatened to take Theo away and had told her he "is very powerful and can do it," according to the affidavit.
Mirkarimi did not speak during this morning's hearing, but his attorney Waggener said outside of court that "this is one of the more overblown cases I've seen."
Along with the Feb. 24 trial date, a pre-trial conference was set for Feb. 16, and there will be a Jan. 30 hearing on evidence issues in the case. Mirkarimi was excused from attending that hearing.
Mirkarimi was sworn in as sheriff on Jan. 8 after serving for seven years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
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