Embattled Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi finally went public today with his entire side of the story on KQED's 'Forum.' He explained how wife Eliana Lopez's arm got bruised on New Year's Eve, and how he feels he's been "seriously misrepresented" in the press. On a whole, it sounds like Mirkarimi wants to let go of the legalese and be honest now, and muster as much sympathy as he can before going before the Ethics Commission next week.
Mirkarimi went into detail about the events of December 31, when he, Lopez, and their son Theo were driving to Pizzeria Delfina for a New Year's Eve lunch. The argument and subsequent bruising of Lopez's arm all took place in the car, he now explains, following a fight in which Lopez was suggesting she make her second trip to Venezuela in six months, during which time Mirkarimi would again be separated from his son something he vehemently did not want, and which she had just recently done, being absent for two months. It was after she mentioned talking to a lawyer that he really blew up, and turned the car around, ultimately arriving back in their driveway. SF Weekly provides a transcript:
"I swore at my wife in front of my son, I was angry that she wasn't hearing me, and I regret this terribly, " Mirakimi says. "She was also extremely upset in a way I had never seen her before where it made my son extremely upset -- he was panicked."Lopez got out of the car, and went to unharness Theo from his car seat. That's when Mirkarimi says he reached over the driver's seat where he was sitting and put his hand underneath her right arm, attempting to "guide her back to passenger seat" to talk things through.
"That's how she got bruised," Mirkarimi said in between sobs.
He says that therapy and anger-management sessions have been "humbling," and he smartly refrained getting into the vast-moderate-conspiracy stuff regarding his upcoming Ethics Commission hearing. Tomorrow, Mirkarimi goes before a judge to argue that City Attorney Dennis Herrera be disqualified from representing Mayor Ed Lee in the Ethics Commission hearing due to a conflict of interest (because his office also advises the Ethics Commission). Then on Friday, Mirkarimi will be back with his lawyers arguing before a judge that his suspension by Mayor Lee be overturned.
The full audio of the 'Forum' broadcast should be available here shortly.
