Alan Grayson’s Wife Drops Request For Restraining Order

Wearing a tie with red, white and blue peace symbols, Rep. Alan Grayson, R-Fla., arrives to join lawmakers and national security officials at the Capitol for a closed-door briefing on the situation in Syria, in Washi... Wearing a tie with red, white and blue peace symbols, Rep. Alan Grayson, R-Fla., arrives to join lawmakers and national security officials at the Capitol for a closed-door briefing on the situation in Syria, in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2013. MORE LESS
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Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) estranged wife on Wednesday voluntarily dropped her petition for a restraining order against her husband.

Lolita Carson-Grayson made the request following an incident last weekend at the couple’s Orlando home. Carson-Grayson claimed that Grayson had pushed her against a door. A Florida judge last week granted Carson-Grayson custody of the couple’s children, and barred contact by her husband. Grayson and his office subsequently issued a number of statements denouncing what they called the “absolutely false, completely unfounded” accusations. Grayson’s lawyers produced a video of part of the event, taken by a Grayson staffer, that they said showed it had been Carson-Grayson, not the congressman, who committed an attack.

After Carson-Grayson and her lawyers filed court papers Wednesday to drop the restraining order request, Grayson’s office released the document, along with a statement saying “[f]or the sake of the all parties involved, we sincerely hope that this concludes Ms. Carson-Grayson’s efforts to misrepresent and exploit the family’s private affairs.”

“Ms. Carson-Grayson has apparently dropped the petition for injunction that she levied against the Congressman last week, and will no longer pursue a restraining order against him,” Grayson Communications Director Lauren Doney said in the emailed statement. “Ms. Carson-Grayson’s complaint was voluntarily dismissed today. While this is certainly positive news, we want to emphasize that these baseless charges should never have been brought in the first place. Two eyewitness accounts, video evidence, a thorough police investigation, and Ms. Carson-Grayson’s own 911 call confirmed the Congressman’s innocence – and that Ms. Carson-Grayson was, in fact, the aggressor.”

Carson-Grayson recently filed for divorce from Grayson. The Orange County, Fla. Sheriff’s Office conducted its own investigation of the incident at the couple’s home, and concluded last week that there was not enough evidence to arrest the congressman.

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