Former Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith resigned last month not over his botched handling of the Christmas blizzard that paralyzed the city, but because of a domestic violence incident that led to his arrest, his wife says.
The former Indianapolis mayor, widely lauded as a growing superstar within the Bloomberg administration, was arrested at his Washington, D.C., home for simple assault domestic violence just days before he stepped down August 4, NBC New York has confirmed.
The police report was first reported by The New York Post.
Goldsmith’s wife, Margaret, told the cops at the time that her husband broke the phone, grabbed her and shoved her into a counter as she tried to call police late on the evening of July 30, the police report says.
“She kept screaming, ‘Let me go, let me go,” as Stephen Goldsmith gripped her, the report said.
Eventually, Margaret Goldsmith managed to break free and called police, who led her husband away in handcuffs. Stephen Goldsmith spent two days in a Washington, D.C., lockup but was let go after his wife declined to press charges.
Margaret Goldsmith told the Post her husband’s arrest was the “overriding reason” he chose to resign the following week.
Many outlets first reported Stephen Goldsmith’s sudden resignation stemmed from the harsh criticism he received for his mishandling of the city’s response to the blizzard.
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Goldsmith, who was at his Georgetown home when the storm dumped more than 2 feet of snow on New York City, tweeted at the time: "Good snow work by sanitation. Long shifts well executed and continuing."
Those in New York, though, knew that most streets were still buried in snow drifts up to 4 feet tall.
Margaret Goldsmith tells the Post her husband had not been planning to resign when he did. He stepped down shortly after the mayor was informed of his arrest on the domestic violence charge, reports the Post.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said he was troubled that the news of a deputy mayor's arrest was not made public.
"The mayor and his staff should give a full accounting of what they knew and when they knew it," he said.
Despite the police call that she claims prompted her husband’s resignation, Margaret Goldsmith insists their relationship is nonviolent and has been so for the 23 years they’ve been married.
“It was a big mistake,” she said of his arrest. “I can only tell you it was an enormous misunderstanding. It just got out of control.”
A source told NBC New York Margaret Goldsmith has been struggling for a long time with lupus and cancer.
Stephen Goldsmith was replaced by Cas Holloway, former head of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Bloomberg spokesman Marc LaVorgna said regardless of what actually happened, the arrest made Goldsmith's continued employment at City Hall no longer viable.
"We have nothing to add to Mrs. Goldsmith's account of the incident, but it was clear to the mayor and Mr. Goldsmith that he could no longer serve at City Hall, regardless of his guilt or innocence," LaVorgna told NBC New York.
