A 30-year-old Boston man who served as John McCain's press secretary during the New Hampshire primary was arrested early yesterday on a domestic violence charge.
Police arrested Barry J. Flynn at the apartment in Boston's Back Bay that he shared with his girlfriend.
Flynn is accused of punching his girlfriend and breaking one of her ribs in a confrontation two days after the New Hampshire primary in January.
Jill Hazelbaker, communications director for the McCain campaign, said the campaign learned of Flynn's arrest yesterday afternoon. She said he had been fired.
"We've severed all ties with him and did so immediately upon learning of the situation," she said.
Flynn was arraigned in Boston Municipal Court yesterday on a charge of assault and battery. District Court Judge Mark Summerville set bail at $500 and ordered Flynn to have no contact with the alleged victim. Flynn will return to court March 12 for a pretrial conference.
Attorney Greg St. Cyr of Dedham declined to comment, saying he was no longer representing Flynn. Flynn could not be reached for comment.
Flynn was a familiar face to reporters in New Hampshire in the run-up to that primary. As recently as Sunday night, he was handling press for McCain's high-profile visit to The Green Dragon Tavern near Faneuil Hall in Boston.
Police went to the Marlborough Street apartment around 1:30 a.m. yesterday and found Flynn standing outside the residence.
He told the officers that he and his girlfriend had an argument and that he was concerned she was destroying his belongings.
Officers who talked to the 30-year-old woman said she appeared shaken and nervous and told them that she "was afraid of her boyfriend and that he had repeatedly beaten her during their five-year relationship," according to a police report.
She also told them that on Jan. 10, two days after the New Hampshire primary, Flynn punched her in the shoulder and ribs, breaking one of them.
Flynn had been a spokesman for the McCain campaign since August.
In 2003, he was arrested on charges of domestic violence against the same woman and fired from his job working for Mitt Romney, then governor of Massachusetts, because of that, according to court records.
A spokesman for Romney's campaign did not return phone and e-mail messages last night.
