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Date Posted: 14:18:38 04/30/05 Sat
Candidate arrested twice for alleged assaults
Christopher F. Murphy says the incidents, involving his wife and another woman, were dismissed from court and have no bearing on his race for a seat on the Playground and Recreation Commission.
01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, April 28, 2005
By ROB MARGETTA
Journal Staff Writer
SOMERSET -- One of the candidates for Playground and Recreation Commission has been picked up by the police several times over the past two years for alleged assaults.
According to Fall River District Court records, Christopher F. Murphy, 31, a corrections officer for the state, was arrested in 2003 for allegedly pushing his wife and again in 2004 for allegedly following a woman in his car, blowing his horn and yelling. Both of the charges against Murphy were dismissed during court hearings.
Murphy, a corrections officer for the state and longtime youth baseball coach, is running for the Playground and Recreation Commission against Maryellen Aspden, who works with the state Division of Medical Assistance.
During an interview yesterday, Murphy said his dealings with the police were over "frivolous charges" and "hearsay." They do not, he said, have any bearing on his suitability for a position with the Playground and Recreation Committee.
"They were all dismissed," he said. "Hearsay will get you an arrest. It will not get you a conviction."
Murphy's arrests centered around the time during which he and his wife, Diana, were separated. The two are still married and live at 268 Longhill Ave., according to a candidate biography Murphy gave The Journal.
The first of the arrests occurred on Jan. 27, 2003, when Somerset police responded to an emergency call from Murphy's wife.
Murphy told the officer that he and his wife were in the first stages of a separation and were arguing about how to divide their possessions. Plummer wrote that he then interviewed Diana Murphy.
"Diana Murphy informed me that her husband made a fist, pressed it against her face and pushed her. Diana Murphy showed me a cut on the inside of her lip. She informed me that this cut was a result of her husband pushing her."
The report stated that Diana Murphy filed a restraining order against her husband, but Fall River District Court had no record of one.
The police confiscated Christopher Murphy's handguns and license to carry, but later returned them. He was arraigned on one count of domestic assault and battery, but the charge was dismissed at Diana Murphy's request.
Christopher Murphy said the arrest was the result of things said in "the heat of the moment" while he and Diana were arguing about the separation.
"It was a verbal misunderstanding, and she took it to the next level," he said.
Murphy was picked up by the Fall River police for another alleged assault just over a year later, during a time when he says he was legally separated from Diana.
The second case involved Stephanie Motta, now 23, who told police she had been involved with Murphy for about six months and had decided to break off the relationship.
The police became involved with the case when Motta made an emergency call from her cellular phone at about midnight, Feb. 19. She said she was driving on Lindsey Street and Murphy was following her.
Dispatchers advised her to drive to the police station. As Motta drove, she stayed on the phone with them, saying that Murphy pulled up beside her, screaming and blowing his horn, and at one point swerved at her car. When she arrived at the police station, Murphy followed her in, and he was arrested.
He was later released from the police station and escorted to his home, where the police again seized his guns and license.
He was charged with assault and criminal harassment, but the charges were dropped at an April hearing. Court documents say the facts were insufficient to prove the case.
Motta said he plans to go on with his campaign and doesn't think his encounters with police are relevant to the race.
"None of this has any bearing on anything," he said.
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