Accused Boston Bomber Faced 2009 Arrest on Domestic Violence Charge
Former Golden Gloves boxer admitted striking girlfriend in face, police said
April 22, 2013— -- A Cambridge, Mass., police report obtained by ABC News shows that in 2009 authorities responded to a 911 call from a woman who alleged that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had struck her in the face.
The incident occurred on a summer afternoon at the Norfolk Street house in Cambridge that has now become the epicenter of the marathon bombing investigation.
CLICK HERE for the 2009 Cambridge Police Report (PDF).
Tamerlan, the older of two brothers suspected of setting off the bombs that killed three and injured more than 200, died during a shootout with police early Friday morning.
Police responding to the distress call said they arrived to find the couple in a car in front of the house. The officers say they approached Tsarnaev, who stepped out of the vehicle and told them the woman had been "yelling at him because of another girl."
"I asked the suspect if he had hit the victim, and he said 'Yes, I slapped her,'" the Cambridge officer wrote in the report. "Suspect was then placed under arrest for Domestic [assault and battery]."
According to the report the victim, whose name is blacked out to protect her privacy, told police she was struck on the left side of the face by Tsarnaev, who was a golden gloves boxer and had been in training for bouts in the sport of mixed-martial arts.
She refused medical attention at the scene. The Boston Globe reported that the domestic violence charge "was dismissed following a jury trial in 2010."
Freelance writer Michele McPhee is a Boston-based reporter and frequent contributor to ABC News.
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