MEDFORD — The young woman who accused state Representative Carlos Henriquez of attacking her in the back of a rented car early in the morning of July 8, 2012, was “calm, a little upset,” according to the Boston detective who interviewed her later that morning.
“She appeared calm and she also appeared a little upset by what was going on,” Detective Allison Berry-O’Toole, a 26-year veteran, said during the second day of Henriquez’s criminal trial on three counts of assault and battery, larceny of the woman’s cellphone SIM card, and intimidation of a witness.
The Dorchester Democrat’s attorney, Stephanie Soriano-Mills, has attempted to present the alleged victim, Katherine Gonzalves, as a person who might have had motive to falsely accuse Henriquez and who has given different accounts.
After meeting with Gonzalves at her East Somerville kitchen table, Berry-O’Toole and her colleagues learned that the alleged crimes took place outside their jurisdiction in Arlington Heights.
Henriquez was originally charged with kidnapping. That charge was dropped because there is no misdemeanor kidnapping crime and the prosecution did not believe the case warranted indictment, Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Clarence Brown told the court.
Henriquez allegedly drove off from Arlington with Gonzalves in the back seat and headed into Boston, where she jumped out at a red light near Northeastern University, injuring her shin and losing a flip-flop, she told police.
In her opening statement, Soriano-Mills characterized Gonzalves as laughing hours after the alleged attack. While Berry-O’Toole was on the stand Thursday, the attorney played an interview where a chuckle can be heard interspersed with the 23-year-old describing how she exited the car.
“I just rolled out the car,” Gonzalves said. Soriano-Mills described her as “snickering.”
Berry-O’Toole’s partner, Detective Carmen Rodriguez, said, “It wasn’t like she was a happy-go-lucky person at that time.”
Arlington police Inspector Gina Bassett said she had not canvassed the area of Sutherland Road for neighbors who might have heard noises.
It was around 3 a.m. when Henriquez arrived at the home of Gonzalves’s mother after sending her a text message with an invitation, Brown said in his opening statement.
Bassett said she had not spoken with the mother. Bassett and the Boston detectives saw bruising on Gonzalves’s wrists and abrasions on her shins.
Although the case moved to Arlington, Berry-O’Toole held on to what she said was the lost flip-flop, which she and her partner found at the intersection of Forsyth Street and Huntington Avenue. She acknowledged that was a mistake.
Soriano-Mills also challenged Berry-O’Toole’s recollection, after reading a police report, that Gonzalves told her she had been struck in the face and held down. Soriano-Mills said that allegation was not contained in that police report.
“I misspoke,” Berry-O’Toole said.