Erick Bennett, the Republican Senate candidate in Maine who said his domestic violence conviction showed “integrity,” repeatedly assaulted his ex-wife by squeezing her neck and threatening to kill her, according to a newly surfaced police report.
The report, obtained by Mother Jones and published on Friday, quotes Bennett’s then-wife, Angela, describing how Bennett repeatedly attacked her in January 2004.
“Erick got off the bed, put both hands around my neck, squeezed my neck and said “Leave me alone,” Angela said at one point in the police report.
Angela later describes how, after that, she was “feeling extremely nervous.”
“He got up as if to go to his coat to get the check but instead turned around toward the bed and I just knew we was gonna come after me so I got up to head for the bathroom saying, ‘Please Erick I’m sorry’ but he grabbed me and got me on the floor and pressed me down,” the police report quoted Angela as saying. “Then he started saying “What are you doing? Sit still? Why are you doing this?” As if I was fighting back and he needed to defend himself. “
Maine law enforcement redacted some names from the police report but together it paints a highly graphic picture of the events that resulted in Bennett being convicted of domestic assault. Earlier in January TPM highlighted a Bangor Daily News report of Bennett, who is challenging Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in the Republican primary, arguing at a press conference that his decision to fight the domestic violence conviction (he continued to maintain his innocence) shows his integrity as a candidate for office. He later dropped out of the race.
“The fact that I have been jailed repeatedly for not agreeing to admit to something I didn’t do should speak to the fact of how much guts and integrity I have,” Bennett said. “I’ve noticed some people questioning that.”
You can read the police report here.
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