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Nassau County Legis. Carrié Solages was charged Wednesday with assaulting his girlfriend after he flew into a rage when he couldn’t find his stash of marijuana in their Valley Stream home, according to authorities and court papers.

Claude Solnik
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Long Island Business News
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Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays

Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012



Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.


Solages, 38, pleaded not guilty and was released without bail on misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child at his Wednesday afternoon arraignment in First District Court in Hempstead. 
A handcuffed Solages, a former Bronx prosecutor who has served in the legislature for six years, didn’t answer questions as Nassau police led him to a patrol car outside the Fifth Precinct in Elmont. He later left court with his sister — mobbed by television news cameras — and declined to comment. 
Brian Griffin, Solages’ defense attorney, called the charges “mere allegations” and said his client, a Democrat, has “absolutely no intention” of resigning amid calls from his fellow Democrats and Republicans for him to vacate his seat.
“He is certainly a dedicated public servant,” said Griffin, of Garden City. “Now what he asks of the public is that they give him his presumption of innocence, which everyone is entitled to.”
PoliticsPols react to Solages arrest
According to court documents, Solages’ girlfriend told police that Solages had abused her for more than two years and said to her that he “owns” the police department. 
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“This abuse has been going on for at least two years,” she said in the statement to police. “He always tells me that he owns the police department and the courts. He believes that if I call the police on him, nothing will happen.”
Nassau police were called at about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday to the Dawson Drive home where Solages lives with the woman, their 3-year-old son and the woman’s two other children from a previous relationship, according to court documents. 
Solages, according to court documents quoting the girlfriend “began accusing me of hiding his marijuana which he had somewhere in the house” and then grabbed her by her arm and neck and pushed her into a wall.
The woman told police: “When I told him that I did not have his marijuana, he became enraged and began cursing and screaming at me. He said, ‘You think I’m playing. I’m going to [expletive] you up.’ ”
Long IslandComplaints against Solages
Solages, according to the court documents, then began throwing trash around the kitchen and said: “Where’s my weed?” 
He then started arguing with the girlfriend’s 14-year-old daughter and the woman began recording him on her cellphone, according to the court documents. And that’s when Solages attacked her, the documents said.
“He grabbed me by my forearm and pushed me on my neck into a corner by my front door,” the woman said, leaving her with “severe pain” and scratches on her arm and neck. She was treated at the scene by a police ambulance medical technician, police said.
Police said in court papers they had viewed the woman’s cell phone video. 
The 14-year-old daughter witnessed the assault and jumped on Solages back “in an attempt to pull him off her,” according to court documents. The girlfriend ran out of the house and knocked on a neighbor’s door for help, court documents said.
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Solages took off in his truck and, minutes later, was arrested after being pulled over by police, police said. 
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Assistant District Attorney Tara Coughlin said in court Solages’ 3-year-old son witnessed the assault.
“The son was present and crying during this incident,” Coughlin said. 
Nassau District Court Judge Joseph Girardi issued stay-away orders, barring Solages from contact with the girlfriend and her two children. 
Coughlin said that Solages doesn’t have a prior criminal record but has an “unreported domestic violence history.” She did not provide specifics.
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Griffin declined to “parse” the details of the allegations against Solages but said “anything that’s unreported, you should question whether it ever happened.” 
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Det. Let. Richard LeBrun, the police department’s top spokesman, said in a statement: “No one is above the law and today’s developments and arrest is a clear example of that.”
Solages is due back in court Aug. 10.
With John Valenti and Robert Brodsky