Controversial Bexar County Republican Party Chairwoman Cynthia Brehm was involved in an altercation with another woman following a December meeting at the party headquarters, police documents show.
Each issued a statement to the San Antonio Police Department accusing the other of assault.
According to an SAPD report, Brehm called police on December 16 to report that another woman, whose name was blacked out in the incident report, had assaulted her and refused to leave the party's Northside headquarters.
In a Thursday phone interview with the Current, Brehm said she made the call after former party operations director Monica Rojas struck her in the chest following a meeting. However, the other woman told SAPD's investigating officer that Brehm had committed the assault, grabbing her by the wrist and yelling obscenities, according to the police report.
Brehm told the Current that she has grasped Rojas, but only in self defense. Rojas was unavailable for comment at press time Thursday.
Details of the December 16 dustup were first reported by local station KENS5. According to its story, the scuffle broke out because the other woman identified in the police report accused Brehm of losing filings by nine candidates.
Brehm told the Current that KENS made up details of the story because the station is part of the "Democratically controlled local media." She said Rojas heckled her during the meeting but added that the former operations manager's complaints were unintelligible.
"[KENS] falsified the entire story," Brehm said. "It's absolutely garbage that they put out."
During her tenure as chair, Brehm has made a string of controversial — and sometimes unsubstantiated — allegations, including her claim last summer that county officials tampered with ballots to help Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
Brehm also turned heads in December when she told Bexar officials she wouldn't allow this spring's GOP primary to run concurrently with that of the Democrats. She later backed down.
In the police report on the December 16 incident, the responding officer wrote that Brehm became "highly irate" and "irrational" after the officer interviewed the other woman before her.
During the investigation, Brehm phoned SAPD and demanding to speak to the officer's supervisor, according to the report. Later, the supervisor reported to the scene and had to gather "limited information" from Brehm and a witness because neither wanted to speak to the officer, the document reveals.
Brehm said she cooperated with police, including making statements "under oath" so she could press charges against Rojas. She added that at least one witness saw the confrontation and that she would never damage her own career by assaulting someone.
"I'm not an idiot," she said. "I'm an elected official."
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