State Rep. Carlos Henriquez arrested on domestic assault charges

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

A Dorchester state representative was arrested this morning on domestic assault charges after an altercation with a woman as they were driving near a Northeastern University dormitory, Boston police said.

Representative Carlos Henriquez was arrested at about 4:30 a.m. on charges of domestic assault and battery and domestic kidnapping, said Boston Police Officer James Kenneally, a department spokesman.

Kenneally said that Henriquez and the woman began arguing after she asked him to drive her home, and that Henriquez attacked her. The woman jumped out of the car and flagged down a Northeastern University police officer in the area of 21 Forsyth St., police said.

The unidentified woman told officers that Henriquez punched her while they were in the car, according to authorities. She received medical attention at the scene, but was not taken to a hospital, Kenneally said.

The relationship between Henriquez, a Democrat who represents the Fifth Suffolk District, and the woman was not immediately clear, but authorities believe she may be his girlfriend.

Henriquez, 35, could not immediately be reached for comment. There was no answer today at his listed address in Dorchester, where two of his campaign signs were visible on the first-floor windows.

He currently serves on the Joint Committee on Education, the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, according to his biography on the Legislature’s website.

House rules allow for a lawmaker to be stripped of committee assignments upon indictment, but a spokesman for House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo declined to discuss possible sanctions.

“The allegations that have been raised are disturbing and troubling and should be taken very seriously,” DeLeo said in a statement. “The matter is now being handled by the appropriate authorities, and that process will play out.”

Henriquez apparently attended a community event on Saturday before the alleged assault.

“I stopped by [the event] to support my friends and community,” he wrote on Twitter yesterday afternoon. “It is a peaceful loving event. Thanks for the love.”

He later added, “crowd is leaving slowly but peacefully. [Boston police] and residents working well together!”

Last summer, Henriquez got into a heated exchange with Boston police officers after they stopped the car he was riding in for not having a front license plate.

Henriquez said he questioned why so many officers were present at the stop, and that in response to his complaints, one officer told him, “What’s it to you?” and, when he continued to question the officers, another officer told the driver: “Your buddy has a lot of mouth.”

Henriquez told the Globe at the time that he complained about his treatment to a top police official in the department. “I’m not looking for retribution or anything like that,” Henriquez said. “I just want to make sure the next citizen has a better chance at customer service.”

Police maintained they acted appropriately and that when they checked the car’s license plate number, they discovered that the car’s owner was wanted for felony assault. Police said the owner was the driver’s roommate and was not in the vehicle at the time.

Henriquez said he did not know the owner and was not aware that the man had an outstanding warrant.