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Ex-News Anchor Rob Morrison Boozes After Resigning, Insists He Never Hurt Wife
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 21, 2013
Modified Feb 21, 2013
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 21, 2013
Modified Feb 21, 2013
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Rob Morrison resigned his job as a CBS 2 news anchor yesterday after being arrested for allegedly choking his wife (and telling cops that he would kill her if they let him go) has been chatting with the tabloids about his downward spiral. A day after talking to the Daily News, Morrison spoke to the Post while he "bellied up to a Connecticut bar to drown out his sorrows."
“I just lost my job today,” Morrison sighed to The Post inside a Buffalo Wild Wings saloon in Stamford, as he searched for answers at the bottom of a Bud Light pint. “I could not go on the air again,” lamented Morrison, 44, who was bending his elbow with a very shaky hand.
Over the weekend, the Darien, Connecticut police responded to a call from Morrison's mother-in-law about an apparent altercation the couple had. The police say they found Ashley Morrison with red marks around her neck and arrested Rob Morrison, charging him with choking her. Rob Morrison did have bruises and a cut on his face. Ashley Morrison's brother in North Carolina, Dr. Gregory Risk, told the police that his sister alleges that "R. Morrison choked her on the couch and she struck R. Morrison with a remote control in self-defense. G. Risk also stated that while he was on the phone with A. Morrison, she stated that R. Morrison was shoving her." Additionally, there have been reports that the NYPD were repeatedly called to the couple's Upper West Side apartment (when they lived in NYC) about domestic incidents (Rob Morrison was arrested once).
A judge ordered that Rob Morrison stay away at least 100 yards from his wife for the time being, but Rob Morrison insisted to the Post, "Don’t always assume it’s the woman that calls the cops."
He said Ashley, a petite, 115-pound blonde, bashed him in the face with a remote control — giving him a bloody nose and lip.
The 180-pound former Marine suggested she has abused him for years, and he denied choking her with both hands on the couch, as she told cops. When asked about the noticeable red marks on her neck indicated in the police report, he said, “What marks?”
Rob Morrison had called his mother-in-law, Martha Risk, that night, in hopes she could calm her down, but then blamed her for calling the cops and claimed his mother-in-law never liked him. His brother in law, Dr. Risk, said, ""Sure, it’s always your mother-in-law’s fault when the cops come to your house nine times and your wife goes to the ER for stitches."
And Martha Risk spoke to the Daily News, saying that her son-in-law was "drunk as a skunk" when he called her, "You wonder when you are going to get another call, if it’s going to be the hospital. How bad is she hurt this time? You have such a horrible feeling in yourself ... This has gone on for too long." She added that she didn't overreact by calling the police, "When you choke someone, you know how quick it is to tear a blood vessel? Within minutes, you can kill someone. It’s attempted murder."
A doorman at the Morrisons' old UWS apartment building told the Post, "He was an ‘alky.’ He was a drunk. That’s probably his biggest problem." His wife told the police that her husband was depressed and Rob Morrison admitted, "I see a psychiatrist once a week." He wants to remain married, because they have a seven-year-old son.
Tagged
alcoholism
Ashley Morrison
cbs 2
connecticut
domestic violence
resignation
Rob Morrison
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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