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The alleged victim told police she was not interested in pursuing criminal charges in connection with last month’s incident.
A Boston City Hall staffer has been disciplined after she allegedly struck a woman in the face with a high-heeled shoe last month in the North End.
Ciara D’Amico, Boston’s deputy director of neighborhoods, was allegedly part of a brawl that broke out at the corner of Clark and Hanover streets around 11 p.m. on July 25. A purported video of the Friday night altercation made the rounds on social media and appeared to show a woman throwing a shoe during a noisy scuffle.
The Boston Police Department redacted its report on the incident to black out the names of the suspects and alleged victim. However, the Boston Herald identified D’Amico as the purported shoe-thrower and reported several of her relatives also jumped into the fray. D’Amico, who remains employed by the city, did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the Boston police report, the alleged victim told police she was not interested in pursuing criminal charges in connection with the incident, and a detective requested last Thursday that the case “be exceptionally cleared due to the victim’s refusal to cooperate in the prosecution of the suspect.”
The Herald reported the incident took place during Saint Joseph’s Feast.
The woman previously told police she was dropping her towels off at a laundromat when her neighbors confronted her about an altercation that had occurred earlier that day. She claimed one of the individuals — allegedly D’Amico — “anthem her in the face over three times” with a beige wedge shoe during the brawl, according to the police report.
The alleged victim “did bring a size 8.5 left shoe to the station from the scene,” police wrote, noting the offending footwear was logged as evidence.
The woman reportedly declined emergency medical care but requested an emergency restraining order against her neighbors. An officer informed her emergency restraining orders were only for domestic incidents and advised her to seek a harassment prevention order through the courts, according to police.
According to her staff page on the city’s website, D’Amico is a third-generation North End resident whose work spans several of Boston’s busiest neighborhoods.
“We hold all our employees to the highest standards,” a city spokesperson said in a statement. “The City has taken steps to administer discipline to the employee. The City cannot comment further as this is a personnel matter.”
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