WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – A suburban New York City mayor accused of slamming a door on his wife’s hand tried to get her to recant her assault charge against him, suggesting she go to a mental hospital and claim she was crazy, prosecutors said Thursday.
He also told her she should hang herself, court papers allege.
White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley was arrested Thursday and arraigned on charges of witness tampering, contempt and harassment, said Lucian Chalfen, spokesman for the Westchester County district attorney’s office.
Bradley, 48, pleaded not guilty and was released without bail, Chalfen said. A call to Bradley’s attorney, Luis Andrew Penichet, was not immediately returned.
The mayor, a Democrat and former member of the state Assembly, already was facing charges of assault, attempted assault and harassment. He was arrested Feb. 28 after his wife, Fumiko Bradley, told police he deliberately closed a door on her hand.
Adam Bradley was in just his second month as mayor. Until his arrest, he had been considered a politician on the rise.
On March 5, Fumiko Bradley announced through her lawyer that she did not want her husband prosecuted and would not cooperate. Her attorney said then that some of her allegations “may not be accurate.”
According to the court papers, that was about the time Adam Bradley told her she should recant the charge.
The complaint, based on statements from the wife, says that on or about March 5, Bradley accused his wife of lying, told her the criminal case would cost him his career and suggested loudly that she “go to a mental hospital and say she was crazy or say that she had lied in her statement.”
The complaint says Bradley’s actions violated an order of protection, which prompted the contempt charge.
It alleges several other episodes in March and April of Bradley making his wife fearful, including screaming at her, “It’s over, it’s over, you should hang yourself!”
Bradley is due in County Court on Monday, when a trial date could be set on the earlier charges.