HollyMatkinElmwood Place, OH – An Ohio mayor and his husband, who is also the village’s maintenance supervisor, were both arrested on domestic violence charges, after they got into a drunken brawl at the Cincinnati PRIDE Parade and Festival.
Elmwood Place Mayor Bill Wilson and City Maintenance Supervisor Bill Smith attended pride events with friends in the city on Saturday, but got into a disagreement with each other late in the day when a woman in their group wanted to head home early, WCPO reported.
Wilson and Smith couldn’t agree on a departure time, but Wilson ultimately conceded, and the group headed back to Elmwood Place.
The woman who was with them told police that she got into the car to leave with the men, but she got out of the vehicle when Smith hit Wilson, The Telegraph reported.
She told police that the physical altercation occurred after Wilson and Smith began arguing about who was more intoxicated, and which one of them should have been driving, according to The Telegraph.
The fight continued after the couple arrived home, and Wilson contacted the police at approximately 8 p.m.
Officers arrived to find the mayor and the city maintenance supervisor outside the residence.
There was “damage all over the residence with glass everywhere,” Elmwood Place Police Sergeant Robert McConnell wrote in an affidavit, according to WCPO.
Police said there was evidence that both men sustained additional injuries by rolling around in the broken glass as they fought, The Telegraph reported.
Wilson’s left eye was “swollen shut,” and he had “a clear injury to his face,” Sgt. McConnell wrote.
Smith’s face was bloody, and he also had a “bloody elbow and glass all over his back,” the sergeant noted.
The broken, scattered glass “appeared to be the result of being smacked in the back with a picture frame,” he added.
The men also became nasty with police during the investigation. Additionally, the mayor shouted at neighbors who were outside watching the chaos, The Telegraph reported.
At one point, the mayor attempted to go back into his home and tried to close the door on one of the officers.
“He [Wilson] actively resisted arrest by pushing me while trying to pull away,” Sgt. McConnell wrote in his report. “Lt. Ungruhe ran up and assisted me with getting Mr. Wilson into handcuffs.”
“While in the back of the cruiser, Mr. Wilson continually screamed and yelled and acted in a completely belligerent manner causing a significant disturbance in the neighborhood,” the sergeant added.
Smith was treated for his injuries, but the mayor refused to cooperate with emergency medical personnel, police said.
Neighbor David Camp said he knew something had happened when he saw the mayor in handcuffs, The Telegraph reported.
“He’s a nice guy,” Camp said. “I’ve been over at this house a couple different times, friendly, but in the past he’s gone off the handle.”
He said the couple had fought in the past, but that he’d never witnessed anything physical, according to The Telegraph.
“I feel for Bill, you know, I don’t know what happened to him, but if the mayor got arrested then that means someone else is hurt,” he said.
Investigators determined that Smith and Wilson, who continued to yell and scream at one another after the police arrived, were “equally responsible for the fight inside of their residence,” Sgt. McConnell wrote.
Both men were charged with domestic violence and disorderly conduct. Wilson was also charged with obstruction official business, according to The Telegraph.
This was not the first time that the mayor has had an encounter with his local police.
In 2015, he was arrested and charged with threatening then-Mayor Jerald Robertson shortly before the election, according to The Telegraph.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Wilson told Robertson he would “kick his ass” and tear his head off during a city council meeting.
Wilson was charged with misdemeanor menacing in that incident.