A state senator who led New York’s Committee on Crime Victims, Crime, and Corrections and was featured on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s campaign website turned himself in to police for allegedly choking his wife.
“Bronx State Senator @LuisSepulvedaNY just turned himself into the 48th precinct, according to a police source. He’s accused of strangling his wife & a complaint was filed Saturday we’re told,” News 12 reporter Jessica Cunnington tweeted.
Luis Sepulveda was charged with “criminal obstruction of breathing,” Cunnington reported, adding that both he and his wife were “fighting with each other” and “accused each other when the complaint was filed.”
Sepulveda is a close ally of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and is a leading figure for far-left Democrats, even earning the endorsement of Sanders in a post that has since been deleted from the Vermont senator’s website.
De Blasio’s office did not immediately return a Washington Examiner request for comment.
“We need to continue building and strengthening our movement from the ground up by electing more progressives to state and local positions, and Luis Sepulveda is counting on our support,” Sanders’s website said.
NEW: NYC Democrat Luis Sepulveda, a close ally of @NYCMayor who is still featured on @BernieSanders campaign website, turned himself in today for strangling his wife. https://t.co/F2zO64yffh pic.twitter.com/QfcBzkkX3S
— Brent Scher (@BrentScher) January 12, 2021
Sanders’s office did not immediately return a Washington Examiner request for comment.
Soon after turning himself in, fellow Democrats in the state legislature removed him from his Committee on Crime Victims, Crime, and Corrections assignment.
“We learned of this disturbing incident this morning. I am immediately removing Sen. Sepulveda as chair of his committee and from all his committee assignments,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. “I take these allegations extremely seriously and will be monitoring this situation closely.”
Another fellow Democrat, Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez, said that this wasn’t the first time Sepulveda has faced this type of accusation.
“Unfortunately, this is not the first time allegations of domestic violence have been brought against Sen. Sepulveda,” she said. “We need leadership that empowers women.”
Sepulveda’s attorney, Marvin Ray Raskin, said his client was “the victim of recurring physical violence by his estranged spouse for approximately nine years, a situation he has endured because of the young child they share together.”
“This false accusation is a calculated attempt by a disgruntled party to leverage a divorce settlement from a case she filed in Florida this past November,” he added. “All allegations must be taken seriously and investigated to the full extent of the law, which is why the senator is committed to and will proactively provide full transparency as this matter is resolved.”
Sepulveda’s office did not immediately return a Washington Examiner request for comment.
