KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Court documents unsealed Monday revealed the details of an altercation that led to domestic battery charges being filed against Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca.
The Johnson County, Kansas, District Attorney’s Office filed the misdemeanor charge against Abarca in connection with the incident on May 29.
Monday, a Johnson County District Court judge unsealed the affidavit that led to the charges.
The affidavit revealed police in Shawnee received a call from Abarca’s wife. She told officers she was switching vehicles with Abarca when the pair began to argue.
Abarca’s wife told police that when she went to take items out of one of the vehicles, Abarca threw her to the ground. The affidavit stated Abarca’s wife provided police a cell phone video that showed her retrieving items from one of the vehicles when she was spun around to the ground.
The video captured Abarca denying he threw her to the ground.
Police eventually spoke with Abarca in a phone call. Abarca allegedly told police he didn’t realize his wife was intending to take their 2-year-old child. Abarca said that as his wife was taking items from his truck, he told police he pulled “her purse back to get her out of the truck, and that’s when she rolls backwards into the yard.”
Abarca turned himself in to authorities on June 4 and was booked into the Johnson County Jail. He quickly posted a $1,500 personal recognizance bond.
He made his first appearance before a Johnson County District Court judge on June 5, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. The judge set a scheduling conference in the case for July 9.
A Kansas City, Missouri, municipal prosecutor cited Abarca earlier this month for violating the terms of a protection order.
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