Goldsmith arrest prompted resignation from NYC

Former Indianapolis Mayor Steve Goldsmith says he stepped down as deputy mayor of New York City early last month because he was arrested over a domestic violence incident.

Goldsmith joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration last year, but abruptly resigned Aug. 4 after 14 months on the job. At the time, Goldsmith said he was leaving to pursue a job financing infrastructure development.

However, the New York Post reported Thursday morning that Goldsmith, 64, was arrested at his Washington, D.C., home July 30 on charges of “simple assault domestic violence” involving his wife, Margaret. Goldsmith spent two days in jail, but prosecutors declined to pursue the case after Margaret decided not to press charges.

Goldsmith and his wife released a written statement Thursday morning that said the incident was overblown.

“Margaret and I agree that the facts have not been accurately portrayed,” he said. “Because, according to the officers, D.C. law required an arrest, one was made over the objection of my wife and no charges were ever filed. Although Margaret under oath has affirmed the absence of violence and my actual innocence, I offered my resignation in order not to be a distraction to the mayor and his important agenda for the city.”

Police paint a different view of the events, according to the Post’s account of the police report. It describes in dramatic detail how a “verbal altercation” between Goldsmith and his wife turned ugly about 11:30 p.m. on that Saturday night.

“I should have put a bullet through you years ago!” Margaret, 59, allegedly told Goldsmith, the newspaper said, citing the report. Margaret told police her husband smashed a phone and grabbed her as she desperately tried to call police, according to the newspaper.

“She kept screaming, ‘let me go, let me go,’” as Goldsmith refused to let her out of his grasp, according to the report. She dug her nails into his forearms, causing him to release her before she ran to another room to call police, the report said.

Margaret also disputed the police report.

“There was no crime committed by Stephen or myself; there was no violence nor any physical harm,” she said in the same written statement. “Clearly, the police report states otherwise. Upon reading the report, I immediately took steps to set the record straight and swore under oath that there was no physical harm and no crime committed.”

Goldsmith became a Bloomberg deputy in June 2010. During his tenure he established programs to share vehicles, information technology and other services among city agencies, initiatives that Bloomberg said would save the city $500 million by 2013. Goldsmith came under criticism from City Council members who blamed him after a post-Christmas blizzard left some streets unplowed for a week.

Goldsmith was mayor of Indianapolis from 1992 to 1999.