NJ Police Chief Arraigned on Kidnapping, Assault Charges

A New Jersey police chief was arraigned in Boston on Monday on felony charges of kidnapping and domestic assault stemming from an alleged violent incident with his girlfriend at a Back Bay hotel following a baseball game last September.

Carmen Veneziano, 47, the chief of the Totowa Police Department, pleaded not guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to one count of kidnapping and three counts of domestic assault and battery. The charges relate to events on Sept. 14, when Veneziano and the woman, who was his girlfriend at the time, stayed overnight in Boston after attending a New York Yankees game against the Boston Red Sox. Prosecutors from the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office described the evening as initially uneventful until a dispute escalated in their hotel room.

According to Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, the argument began after the couple returned to the hotel. Veneziano left the room and later demanded reentry around 3 a.m. Once inside, he allegedly became physically abusive, headbutting the woman, dragging her by her legs across the floor, holding her down on the bed, applying painful pressure to parts of her body, and throwing water on her. He is...