Spousal abuse is a serial crime committed by angry husbands across America's socio-economic landscape. Wives are beaten in trailer parks, upscale apartment buildings, suburban tract homes and in million-dollar houses in gated neighborhoods. Husbands seldom abuse their wives in public or in front of friends and relatives. Because it's largely a hidden crime, no one knows how many wives are exposed to domestic violence.
Every so often we are reminded of the domestic abuse problem when a well-known successful man is arrested for hurting his wife. If she is a celebrity as well it's a news event. If the alleged perpetrator and his victim are both members of the news media it's an even bigger story.
The domestic violence arrest of a New York City anchorman married to a TV reporter was a reminder that even successful high-profile women are vulnerable to spousal abuse.
Former Marine and combat correspondent who covered the war in Afghanistan, Rob Morrison, in 1989 began anchoring NBC television's weekday morning show "Today in New York." He and his wife Ashley, a reporter for CBS-TV, lived in an apartment on Manhattan's upper West Side. Between 2003 and 2009, Ashley, alleging spousal abuse, called the New York City Police Department seven times. While only one of these calls resulted in her husband's arrest (the files of this case were sealed) NYPD police reports paint Rob Morrison as a hard-drinking, verbally abusive bully with a taste for internet pornography.
In 2009 the couple purchased a million-dollar house in the upscale suburban town of Darien, Connecticut. Ashley worked as a correspondent on the CBS news show, "MoneyWatch." Rob Morrison left NBC that year to anchor, in New York City, a CBS program called "News at Noon." During his first year at CBS he wrote a column for the Huffington Post about raising his son titled, "Daddy Diaries: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Anchorman."
Around two in the morning on Sunday, February 17, 2013 officers with the Darien Police Department rolled up at the Morrison residence. Ashley Morrison's mother, Martha Risk, had called 911 from her home in Columbia, Indiana. The mother reported that her son-in-law, during an argument with her 110 pound daughter, had grabbed her by the throat. Rob Morrison, the subject of the long-distance complaint, told the responding officers to "get the hell out of my house."
Rob Morrison's scratched and bleeding nose and swollen lip, and the red hand-marks on Ashley's neck, provided the Darien officers with enough physical evidence of domestic violence to support an arrest. According to the police report, as officers escorted Rob Morrison from the house in handcuffs, he said that if released from custody he'd return to the dwelling and kill his wife. (Morrison denied making that threat.) Throughout his encounter with the police Mr. Morrison remained belligerent.
Later that Sunday, notwithstanding the alleged death threat against his wife, Rob Morrison walked out of jail after posting a $100,000 bond. The next day he showed up for work at the TV station, and when asked about his nose and fat lip he didn't mention his arrest or the domestic violence charges that had been filed against him.
On Tuesday, February 29, 2013 in a Stamford, Connecticut court, Rob Morrison was formally charged with felony strangulation, second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct. Judge Kenneth Povodator ordered the defendant out of the house in Darien, and pursuant to an order of protection, instructed him to stay 100 yards from his wife except when they were at work. Judge Povodator, in referring to the Darien police report, said, "It not only reflects a serious incident, it reflects the likelihood of a serious history [of domestic violence]."
In speaking to reporters after the hearing Rob Morrison blamed his problems on his wife's mother, the source of the 911 domestic disturbance call. He said, "Don't piss-off your mother-in-law is the moral of this story."
On Wednesday, February 20, 2013 Rob Morrison announced that he had resigned from his $300,000-year-job at WCBS-TV. To reporters he said, "My family is my first and only priority right now, and I have informed CBS management that I need to put all of my time and energy into making sure that I do what's right for my wife and son....I did not choke my wife. I've never laid hands on my wife. I was just as surprised by that particular charge as probably everyone else."
Had Morrison not resigned he may have been suspended or fired. Moreover, there were people who were not surprised by the domestic violence charges against the anchorman. One of those persons was Morrison's mother-in-law, Martha Risk who on February 20 told a reporter with the New York Daily News that Rob Morrison had been abusing Ashley for ten years. She said, "You wonder when you are going to get another call, if it's going to be [from] the hospital. How bad is she hurt this time? You have such a horrible feeling in yourself....This has gone on for too long." Martha Risk told the reporter that when her son-in-law called her early Sunday morning he was "drunk as a skunk." The moment he hung up she called 911.
In April 2014 the local prosecutor dropped the charges against Rob Morrison following his completion of a domestic violence program. But in mid-June, less than two months after going through the program, Darien police arrested him for domestic harassment. Within a period of three days he had allegedly called his estranged wife 121 times.
Ashley Morrison told police officers she was afraid that if she caused her estranged husband to be arrested he would kill her. Fearing for her life she and her son fled to Florida about the time officers took Mr. Morrison into custody.
At Morrison's arraignment the judge issued a more restrictive protection order, then set the suspect's bail at $50,000. Shortly thereafter the ex-TV man posted bail and went home.
In October 2014 Rob Morrison pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of breach of peace. Judge Erika Tindill sentenced him to six months probation.
To reporters after the plea hearing, the former television anchorman said he avoided going through a trial in order to move on with his life. "In my mind," he said, "this is a way to move forward."
Every so often we are reminded of the domestic abuse problem when a well-known successful man is arrested for hurting his wife. If she is a celebrity as well it's a news event. If the alleged perpetrator and his victim are both members of the news media it's an even bigger story.
The domestic violence arrest of a New York City anchorman married to a TV reporter was a reminder that even successful high-profile women are vulnerable to spousal abuse.
Former Marine and combat correspondent who covered the war in Afghanistan, Rob Morrison, in 1989 began anchoring NBC television's weekday morning show "Today in New York." He and his wife Ashley, a reporter for CBS-TV, lived in an apartment on Manhattan's upper West Side. Between 2003 and 2009, Ashley, alleging spousal abuse, called the New York City Police Department seven times. While only one of these calls resulted in her husband's arrest (the files of this case were sealed) NYPD police reports paint Rob Morrison as a hard-drinking, verbally abusive bully with a taste for internet pornography.
In 2009 the couple purchased a million-dollar house in the upscale suburban town of Darien, Connecticut. Ashley worked as a correspondent on the CBS news show, "MoneyWatch." Rob Morrison left NBC that year to anchor, in New York City, a CBS program called "News at Noon." During his first year at CBS he wrote a column for the Huffington Post about raising his son titled, "Daddy Diaries: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Anchorman."
Around two in the morning on Sunday, February 17, 2013 officers with the Darien Police Department rolled up at the Morrison residence. Ashley Morrison's mother, Martha Risk, had called 911 from her home in Columbia, Indiana. The mother reported that her son-in-law, during an argument with her 110 pound daughter, had grabbed her by the throat. Rob Morrison, the subject of the long-distance complaint, told the responding officers to "get the hell out of my house."
Rob Morrison's scratched and bleeding nose and swollen lip, and the red hand-marks on Ashley's neck, provided the Darien officers with enough physical evidence of domestic violence to support an arrest. According to the police report, as officers escorted Rob Morrison from the house in handcuffs, he said that if released from custody he'd return to the dwelling and kill his wife. (Morrison denied making that threat.) Throughout his encounter with the police Mr. Morrison remained belligerent.
Later that Sunday, notwithstanding the alleged death threat against his wife, Rob Morrison walked out of jail after posting a $100,000 bond. The next day he showed up for work at the TV station, and when asked about his nose and fat lip he didn't mention his arrest or the domestic violence charges that had been filed against him.
On Tuesday, February 29, 2013 in a Stamford, Connecticut court, Rob Morrison was formally charged with felony strangulation, second-degree threatening and disorderly conduct. Judge Kenneth Povodator ordered the defendant out of the house in Darien, and pursuant to an order of protection, instructed him to stay 100 yards from his wife except when they were at work. Judge Povodator, in referring to the Darien police report, said, "It not only reflects a serious incident, it reflects the likelihood of a serious history [of domestic violence]."
In speaking to reporters after the hearing Rob Morrison blamed his problems on his wife's mother, the source of the 911 domestic disturbance call. He said, "Don't piss-off your mother-in-law is the moral of this story."
On Wednesday, February 20, 2013 Rob Morrison announced that he had resigned from his $300,000-year-job at WCBS-TV. To reporters he said, "My family is my first and only priority right now, and I have informed CBS management that I need to put all of my time and energy into making sure that I do what's right for my wife and son....I did not choke my wife. I've never laid hands on my wife. I was just as surprised by that particular charge as probably everyone else."
Had Morrison not resigned he may have been suspended or fired. Moreover, there were people who were not surprised by the domestic violence charges against the anchorman. One of those persons was Morrison's mother-in-law, Martha Risk who on February 20 told a reporter with the New York Daily News that Rob Morrison had been abusing Ashley for ten years. She said, "You wonder when you are going to get another call, if it's going to be [from] the hospital. How bad is she hurt this time? You have such a horrible feeling in yourself....This has gone on for too long." Martha Risk told the reporter that when her son-in-law called her early Sunday morning he was "drunk as a skunk." The moment he hung up she called 911.
In April 2014 the local prosecutor dropped the charges against Rob Morrison following his completion of a domestic violence program. But in mid-June, less than two months after going through the program, Darien police arrested him for domestic harassment. Within a period of three days he had allegedly called his estranged wife 121 times.
Ashley Morrison told police officers she was afraid that if she caused her estranged husband to be arrested he would kill her. Fearing for her life she and her son fled to Florida about the time officers took Mr. Morrison into custody.
At Morrison's arraignment the judge issued a more restrictive protection order, then set the suspect's bail at $50,000. Shortly thereafter the ex-TV man posted bail and went home.
In October 2014 Rob Morrison pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of breach of peace. Judge Erika Tindill sentenced him to six months probation.
To reporters after the plea hearing, the former television anchorman said he avoided going through a trial in order to move on with his life. "In my mind," he said, "this is a way to move forward."
"Tract" houses, not "track" houses.
ReplyDeleteSo what's been happening since?
ReplyDelete