Wife says suburban NY mayor abused her for months

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – The wife of a suburban New York mayor said Tuesday that she resisted filing assault charges against him for months in hopes of saving his career but finally called the police when he twice slammed a door on her fingers.

Fumiko Bradley, 38, testified at the domestic-violence trial of White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley, who has pleaded not guilty to assault, harassment, witness tampering and other charges.

She claims he has abused her since October 2009 by pushing her down stairs, throwing hot tea at her and squeezing her arms so tightly they bruised. The Bradleys, who are divorcing, have been married seven years and have two young daughters.

Fumiko Bradley testified that after the tea-throwing incident in January, "I was scared, but at the same time I didn't want to hurt his career by calling the police. Also I had two children, and I wanted to work this out." She said she also thought of the people who had worked hard to get Bradley elected last November in White Plains, which is just north of Manhattan and is one of the nation's top suburban office and retail centers.

But on Feb. 28, the day the Democratic mayor is accused of injuring her fingers, "I decided to call the police because I couldn't take it anymore," Fumiko Bradley testified. "I thought I had to stand up for myself and my girls."

On cross-examination, she acknowledged she could get angry but insisted she had never hit, punched or scratched her husband. She said she had at times "struggled with him" while defending herself.

Defense attorney Luis Andrew Penichet told acting state Supreme Court Justice Susan Capeci, who is trying the case without a jury, that Fumiko Bradley was often the aggressor in what was "a contentious relationship."

"This little 5-5, 100-pound woman clocked my guy in front of a witness," he said.

The 49-year-old mayor, whose career was on the rise before his arrest made front-page news, has resisted calls for his resignation. On Tuesday he rarely looked up from the defense table, where he took notes on a yellow legal pad.

Fumiko Bradley testified that she had second thoughts within a few days of her husband's arrest and told a lawyer she wanted to drop the case.

"I wanted to save the family, the marriage," she said. "I saw the news, I had the kids and I didn't want it to happen to my kids."

The case was not dropped, but a judge modified an order of protection to allow the mayor to visit his wife and their daughters. Soon afterward, Fumiko Bradley testified, her husband confronted her at a friend's house, shouting "You lied!" and insisting she admit herself to a mental hospital to cast doubt on her allegations.

"I was very shocked," she said. "In order to save his career I had to go to the mental hospital and say I was crazy ... or I have to say I lied and go to jail for it."

"I know I'm not crazy," she said. "I know I didn't lie."

On March 25, she said, Adam Bradley, angry about some of her e-mail messages being made public, went into the bathroom while she was taking a shower.

"He said, 'Hang yourself up,'" she testified through tears, holding her hands to her throat in a choking sign. "I understood that as, 'Kill yourself.' I couldn't believe he said that."

Fumiko Bradley testified that on April 2, her husband hit her with a rolled-up newspaper after additional charges, including witness tampering, had been filed against him.

"I felt his anger," she said. "I was afraid he was going to hurt me again."

After that, she said, she obtained a full order of protection.