Abuse claims against Shawn Morse go back years

Cohoes

Domestic abuse allegations involving Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse stretch back more than two decades, including an incident in the mid-1990s when a woman he dated for several years called police and said Morse had grabbed her neck and lifted her off the ground during an argument at her downtown apartment, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

The woman, now 46, dated Morse for several years in the 1990s. She confirmed the police call when contacted recently by the Times Union, but declined additional comment for this story. The Times Union is not identifying the woman because she is an alleged victim of domestic violence.

Two people close to the woman, including a local businesswoman, and a third person with knowledge of the incident, said the woman called Cohoes police multiple times in the mid-1990s to report abusive behavior by Morse, including allegations that he grabbed her, spit on her and destroyed property inside the Grant Street apartment where she lived at the time.

"The police did nothing. It was a helpless and hopeless situation," said the businesswoman, who spoke to the Times Union on the condition she not be identified.

Details about the alleged history of abusive behavior are surfacing as State Police investigate a domestic violence incident on the morning of Nov. 10 when Morse's wife, Brenda, called 911 and told a dispatcher that her husband "grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground," according to a police record. Morse and his wife have declined to authorize the release of her 911 call.

Several women who know Morse and the woman he dated in the mid-1990s said the recent domestic violence report was not the first time that Cohoes police have responded to allegations of physical abuse by Morse.

A person with knowledge of multiple police responses to the Grant Street apartment where Morse's former girlfriend lived in the mid-1990s said then-Cohoes police Officer Gary Ethier responded to several of the calls for help. The incidents never resulted in an arrest, the person said. Ethier resigned from the Cohoes police department in 2003.

"I do remember responding to a call, yes," Ethier said, adding that he could not recall the details of the woman's allegations. Ethier also acknowledged he was dispatched to the residence for domestic problems involving Morse and the ex-girlfriend.

There were also other instances of alleged physical abuse involving Morse.

The local businesswoman, who attended Cohoes High School with a woman who dated Morse in the 1980s, said that woman, now a Waterford resident, had been roughed up by Morse multiple times. The Waterford woman, 48, did not respond to a request to be interviewed by the Times Union.

Another person familiar with that earlier relationship said Morse once grabbed the woman by her hair and dragged her out of a city pharmacy where she worked at the time.

Assemblyman John McDonald, a former city mayor whose family has operated Marra's Pharmacy in Cohoes for decades, confirmed Friday that the Waterford woman worked at his family's pharmacy, and that he recalled the incident.

He said it took place after Morse entered the pharmacy and began arguing with the woman. McDonald declined additional comment, citing concern for the woman's privacy.

On Friday, Morse's attorney, Joseph Ahearn, issued a statement in response to written questions about the 911 call, the pharmacy incident and the police calls to Morse's ex-girlfriend's residence in the mid-1990s.

"As the attorney for Mayor Morse, I have reviewed the proposed questions regarding the mayor's personal life," Ahearn wrote. "Due to the involvement of the State Police in this matter, I have advised the mayor to refrain from discussing any aspects of his personal life out of an abundance of caution. The mayor is confident that after a thorough investigation by the State Police, it will be evident that the mayor did not engage in any wrongdoing or criminal conduct."

The 911 call placed by Morse's wife last month was not the first time she has accused Morse of physical abuse.

Information obtained by the Times Union shows Brenda Morse told Cohoes police officers who came to the couple's Grandview Avenue residence that morning that there had been prior incidents of physical abuse involving her husband, including about a week earlier, but that she did not involve police. She also told officers that her husband grabbed her cellphone and threw it against a wall as she tried to film the alleged assault on Nov. 10.

Morse has acknowledged that he and his wife had a heated argument that day, but he disputed grabbing his wife by the neck or physically harming her. He also has claimed that some details in the police report cited by the Times Union were inaccurate, including that their older daughter was home at the time. Morse has stated publicly that their argument stemmed from a disciplinary problem with their younger 15-year-old daughter, who was also not at the residence. But several people briefed on the investigation said Morse and his wife both told police that their fight that day stemmed from a separate marital issue.

Morse has said that he left his residence after the fight and before his wife called 911. He said he visited City Hall, drove by a local park where a dedication ceremony was planned for the following day, and also stopped to pick up coffee on his way back home. He denied that a scratch that was visible under his left eye the following day was related to the couple's fight. But Brenda Morse told police that she scratched at her husband's face when he was holding her down and had begun to choke her, according to information about the investigation obtained by the Times Union.

Shawn Morse, Mayor of the City of Cohoes, speaks at a Veterans Memorial Park Dedication at West End Park on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. Brenda Morse told police she scratched at her husband's face a day earlier when he allegedly grabbed her neck and threw her to the ground during an argument at their Cohoes residence. She told police it was not the first time he had physically abused her. (Massarah Mikati/Times Union)

Shawn Morse, Mayor of the City of Cohoes, speaks at a Veterans...

Morse and his wife both were interviewed by State Police last month. That agency is leading the investigation after Cohoes police turned the case over to them due to the potential conflict of interest. As mayor, Morse also serves as public safety commissioner and has oversight of the police force.

State Police used a search warrant to seize Morse's mobile phone last month while he was interviewed by investigators at Troop G headquarters in Latham. Morse told investigators that when he left his residence on the morning of the fight, he also visited a local landfill as well as City Hall and the coffee shop. State Police have not recovered the mobile phone that Brenda Morse told police officers her husband threw against a wall during the incident.

The three people familiar with the incidents involving Morse in the mid-1990s said his ex-girlfriend's parents, longtime Cohoes residents who are now deceased, had kept copies of police reports documenting the abuse allegations, and also took photographs of bruises they said she suffered during some of the alleged incidents. They said that the woman said Morse never hit her, and that she only reported physical abuse to police for the incident in which he allegedly grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off her feet.

Stacey Bonnar, who has been friends with Morse's ex-girlfriend for about two decades, said the woman later told her about the alleged mental and physical abuse. She said the ex-girlfriend also showed her copies of police reports, photographs and orders of protection that the woman's parents had kept in a file.

"I can recall seeing the stack of (police reports and court papers) — I can see her name, his name," said Bonnar, who now lives in another state.

Bonnar said in the mid-1990s Morse's ex-girlfriend "got to talking to me about it and she's like, 'I went to the cops so many times I finally gave up.' ... She said, 'We can't do anything — he's a firefighter, he's got juice.'"

Bonnar said she read news reports last month about the 911 call placed by Morse's wife.

"I was not surprised when I read about Brenda's call because ... it's expected," she said. "I wasn't shocked at all. I'm just surprised that it took so long for something else to leak out."

Morse, 50, was elected Cohoes mayor in 2015. Before becoming mayor in the city where he grew up, he was chairman of the Albany County Legislature, a powerful figure in the county's Democratic machine, and was employed as a Cohoes firefighter from 1989 to 2015.

The Times Union filed a Freedom of Information Law request with the city of Cohoes on Nov. 27 seeking copies of any records of police calls to the ex-girlfriend's Grant Street apartment during that time period. Acting police Chief Tom Ross said the department is conducting a search for the records but that, if they exist, they may be buried in thousands of pages of police files that are stored in City Hall. Some of those records, he said, were damaged during a flood several years ago.

"We lost a lot," Ross said. "The other problem is we never get rid of a lot of stuff. There's hundreds of thousands of papers and boxes in these rooms. ... They're going to be very difficult to find."

The office of Albany County District Attorney David Soares is monitoring the ongoing State Police investigation of the Nov. 10 incident.

The statement issued by Cohoes police last month said the decision to turn the case over to State Police was not related to the work of the three officers who initially responded to the call.

"In the interest of maintaining the integrity of the mayor's office of Cohoes and the Cohoes Police Department, and in the spirit of full transparency, the investigation will be turned over to the New York State Police for investigation," the statement read. "The transfer of the case was encouraged and embraced by the mayor."

blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @brendan_lyonstu