Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi will be arraigned Thursday on three misdemeanor charges in connection with an alleged domestic violence incident on New Year’s Eve, according to his lawyer.
Mirkarimi, The City’s first new sheriff in more than 30 years, was booked and released on $35,000 bail Friday after the charges were filed against him. Mirkarimi and Lopez vowed to fight the charges as they left City Hall before heading to county jail, where the sheriff was booked.
The New Year’s Eve incident was reported to police by a female neighbor of Mirkarimi, Ivory Madison, who said Lopez spoke to her about it the following day, according to a San Francisco Police Department search warrant affidavit obtained last week by The SF Examiner.
Madison came forward to police three days later, saying Lopez had told her she had been a victim of domestic violence but had been “hesitant to report the incident to the police due to Mr. Mirkarimi’s position in San Francisco government.” Lopez had a bruise on her upper right arm from where Mirkarimi had grabbed her, Madison told police.
The injury was reportedly recorded on Madison’s video camera, which police have seized, along with Madison’s cell phone, which police said contained text messages between the two women about the incident.
Mirkarimi was charged with domestic violence battery, along with child endangerment because prosecutors have evidence the sheriff’s 2-year-old son was present during the alleged domestic violence incident, Gascón said. The District Attorney also said prosecutors believe Mirkarimi attempted to stop a witness — it was unclear if he meant Lopez or someone else — from calling police to report the crime.
District Attorney George Gascón has indicated this may not be an isolated incident.
“We have information that there might have been other incidents,” Gascón said Friday.
If convicted on the three charges — domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness — Mirkarimi could face up to a year in prison and up to three years of probation.
