Anthony Cumia Arrested in Long Island on Charges of Strangulation

Anthony Cumia during a taping of Unmasked on SiriusXM

New York Newsday reported this morning that Anthony Cumia, host of The Anthony Cumia Show was arrested on Sunday morning in his Long Island home after he “got into an argument with a woman that stemmed into physical violence.” He was charged with strangulation, criminal mischief, unlawful imprisonment, and assault. Cumia is scheduled to be arraigned on Sunday. The arrest comes after an altercation with an unidentified 26-year old woman in his Roslyn Heights home.

Early Saturday morning, around 3am, Cumia was seen arguing with a girlfriend on Periscope.  Fans know by her social media nickname Dani Golightly. The video was later taken down, but it had been captured by a fan and reposted on YouTube and was posted by TMZ early Sunday morning. In the video Dani claims her hand had been broken and blamed her injury on  Cumia and appears to be being hit on camera. Long time fans who have never known Cumia to be violent debated back and forth all day Saturday on reddit.com about whether the incident captured on Periscope was some kind of hoax or prank or could possibly be a false accusation, even slowing down frames and speculating that Dani could have been hitting herself in the video.

Cumia’s twitter had been uncharacteristically silent following the Periscope, leading to speculation that the police had in fact been called.  We had been following the developing story throughout the weekend but were were still shocked to hear the news that Cumia had in fact been arrested.  There’s been no news about Dani’s condition or whether she has suffered injuries.

Cumia is the former co-host of the Opie and Anthony Show, and currently hosts a show on his own Anthony Cumia Network, which also hosts shows with the Legion of Skanks podcast, the Gavin McInness Show, The New York Crime Report, and coming in January, the East Side Dave Show.

Friend and co-worker Luis J. Gomez who is one of the hosts of the Legion of Skanks podcast which airs on Cumia’s network went on Periscope this morning to express concern over Cumia’s arrest. “I don’t know what’s going to happen here. Shit like this doesn’t go away. It’s not that easy,” Gomez said, sadly. “And I do stand with Anthony I really do,” he added. “The Anthony Cumia that I know is not a violent person.”   That Periscope has since been deleted.  

A staff writer for Newsday who seems to have been in the room during the hearing posted a tweet reporting that the” prosecutor said Cumia pinned woman against a wall and “stomped” on her hand.”  He added that a lawyer for Cumia said “things are often not what they seem.”

Prosecutor said Cumia pinned woman against a wall and "stomped" on her hand. Lawyer for Cumia said "things are often not what they seem."

— Scott Eidler (@scottyeidz) December 20, 2015

Cumia has not yet responded to our request for comment, but his current producer told TheBlaze.com‘s Mike Opelka, “we consider this to be a private matter between Mr. Cumia and his significant other.”

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