New York City Police Department detectives are investigating former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer for allegedly assaulting a woman at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan on Saturday night, reported Retuers.
An unidentified 25-year-old Russian woman claims that Spitzer, who resigned from the governorship in 2008 over a prostitution scandal, choked her inside a room at the Plaza Hotel Saturday night around 8 p.m., law enforcement told CNN.
Spitzer, 56, and the woman reportedly had "some sort of romantic relationship for about two years," and she was considering breaking up with him, which "may have led to the spat," an official told ABC station WABC.
The woman then tried to kill herself by slitting her wrists and was taken to the hospital to be treated for the non-life threatening cut on her arm. Spitzer showed up at the hospital shortly after, hiding his face with a hat. The woman told police at the hospital that she and Spitzer had a verbal argument that became physical. She declined to press charges and has since left the United States to return to Russia.
"The victim has indicated that the subject is Eliot Spitzer," the New York Police Department said in a statement released Sunday, according to CNN. "Through an ongoing investigation, we are attempting to further establish the identity of the subject and the nature of the incident."
A spokeswoman for Spitzer said "there is no truth to the allegation."
Spitzer, a Democrat, served as the New York State attorney general before being elected governor in 2006. He was forced to resign in 2008 after an investigation revealed that he was a frequent client of a high-end prostitution ring and had spent $15,000 on call girls.
"I cannot allow for my private failings to disrupt the people's work," Spitzer said upon stepping down from office on March 17, 2008, reported NPR. "Over the course of my public life, I have insisted - I believe correctly - that people take responsibility for their conduct. I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor."
Investigators found that he did not spend public funds on prostitutes and he was not charged with a crime.
