Police: Bombing Suspect #1 Confessed to 2009 Assault; Case Dismissed

Police: Bombing Suspect #1 Confessed to 2009 Assault; Case Dismissed

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the now-deceased Suspect 1 in the Boston Marathon bombing, was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend by the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police on July 28, 2009 after he confessed to officers who arrived on the scene. 

“I slapped her,” Tsarnaev told officers, who promptly took him into custody.

Breitbart News has learned that the Cambridge Police Department referred the case to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case in a jury trial. However, Stephanie Guyotte, a spokesperson for the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, told Breitbart News on Saturday that in February, 2010 the presiding judge dismissed the case.

As the Middlesex County Courts were closed over the weekend, Ms. Guyotte was unable to provide the name of the judge who dismissed the case, the reasons set forward for the dismissal, or the position taken by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office on the dismissal.

Breitbart News has obtained the police report of the incident, the details of which are described below:

INCIDENT #9005495 DATA

DATE/TIME REPORTED DATE/TIME OCCURRED

INCIDENT TYPE(S)/OFFENSE(S)

(265/13A/D) ASSAULT & BATTERY (A&B), AGGRAVATED C265 S13A/D

DEFENDANT TSARNAEV, TAMERLAN MALE WHITE 22 10/21/1986 

ADDRESS: 410 NORFOLK ST. 3 CAMBRIDGE, MA 

NARRATIVE

Tamerlan Tsarnaev of 410 Norfolk Street #3, arrested this date for Domestic A&B after assaulting his girlfriend. Girlfriend called 911 on her cell phone indicating that she was beat up by her boyfriend.

On the above date and time while working car 1 with Officer Gamble we were dispatched to 410 Norfolk Street along with 1R Officer Hogan for a Domestic A&B. A female caller called 911 on her cell phone. The call was routed to us via the State Police. 

According to the caller, she stated she was beat up by her boyfriend and was crying hysterically.

Upon our arrival Myself and Officer Hogan approached the residence of the caller. We were later called by Officer Gamble stating that he had both the victim and suspect out front. The suspect had gotten out of his vehicle and stated to Officer Gamble “She is the one who called” at which point a female exited the passenger side of the vehicle. Officer Gamble asked the victim if she was the one that had called and she stated “yes”.

I approached Officer Gamble, at which point Officer Gamble took the victim aside to speak to her. Myself and Officer Hogan then pulled the suspect aside and spoke to him in regards to the situation that took place. 

The suspect then stated to myself and Officer Hogan that the victim was yelling at him because of another girl, I asked the suspect if he had hit the victim, and he stated “Yes I slapped her”. Suspect was then placed under arrest for Domestic A&B.

We then approached the victim and asked where she was hit, she stated in the face, I then asked her which side and the victim stated the left side of the face. No visible marks were seen. The victim was advised of her 209A rights and medical attention by Officer Gamble, at which point she refused.

Suspect transported to base via the wagon, Officer Lucey.

Breitbart News has seen the name of the victim of the assault described in this case and can confirm that it is not Katherine Russell, the woman who has been identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife and mother of his three-year-old daughter. The woman’s last name appears to be Portuguese. 

In the May, 2009 “Will Box for Passport” photo profile of Tsarnaev, published online by photographer Johannes Hirn, Tsarnaev describes his girlfriend as “half Portuguese, half Italian,” and states that she has converted to Islam. The photo profile, which was accessible on Friday, has subsequently been removed, but some of the photos from the profile can be seen here.

Breitbart News spoke with the Public Information Officer of the Cambridge Police Department on Friday, and he confirmed the arrest and referred us to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office, stating they were responsible for prosecuting the case. At the time, Gerard T. Leone was the Middlesex County District Attorney. On February 2, 2013, the Boston Globe reported that Mr. Leone was contemplating a run for the Democratic nomination in the special election to replace Secretary of State John Kerry in the United States Senate.

Mr. Leone resigned as Middlesex County District Attorney on March 19, 2013, in the middle of his second elected term, to join the Boston law firm of Nixon Peabody. On April 12, 2013, three days before the Boston Marathon bombings, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick named Michael J. Pelgro as Acting District Attorney.

Late Friday afternoon, Middlesex County District Attorney’s office spokesperson Stephanie Guyotte told Breitbart News, “Tamerlan Tsarnaev does not have any prior convictions in Middlesex County.”

Tsarnaev may have been arrested for assaulting more than one woman. In addition to the July 28, 2009 assault of a woman who was not Katherine Russell, he may have also been arrested for assaulting her.

CBS News reported that a woman who had once been friendly with both Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his then-girlfriend, now wife, Katherine Russell, stated that Tsarnaev was arrested in 2009 for assaulting her. “He became very violent with her and was brainwashing her into converting into Muslim,” she said.

According to records found on the Cambridge Police Department website, another incident, Assault and Battery Case Number 09-05301, was reported on July 22, 2009 at 12:52 am. According to the record, “a Norfolk St. resident reports that her ex-boyfriend pushed her to the ground after an argument outside of the Middlesex Lounge restaurant on Massachusetts Ave.” There is no indication at present that the complainant in this incident was Ms. Russell or that the suspect was Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

According to CBS News, “Russell got pregnant with Tamerlan’s child, and they married shortly after, none of their old friends attended the wedding.” 

The timing of Russell’s pregnancy appears to coincide with the date of his July 28, 2009 assault of another woman, or shortly thereafter. In 2010, Ms. Russell dropped out of Suffolk University, which she attended from 2007 to 2010, and gave birth to Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s daughter, Zahara, who is now three years old.

On Saturday afternoon, Middlesex County District Attorney spokesperson Stephanie Guyotte confirmed to Breitbart News that she will attempt to find the records of the February, 2010 dismissal of the jury trial of Tamerlan Tsarnaev for the July 28, 2009 assault on Monday morning, when court records are once again available.

Photo: Julia Malakie/Lowell Sun

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