D.C. Deputy Mayor Investigated After Assault Charge in Arlington

WASHINGTON -- A District of Columbia deputy mayor resigned under pressure last week after he was charged with assault and later alleged to be violating a city administration rule by living outside Washington, D.C.

D.C. Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice Christopher Geldart was charged with assault this month after an altercation with a personal trainer outside a Gold’s Gym in Arlington.

He was arraigned in court this week in Arlington.?

Dustin Woodward, the personal trainer, said Geldart assaulted him during a minor traffic dispute.

He says Geldart hit his girlfriend’s parked car with the door of his own vehicle in the gym’s parking lot in the 3900 block of Wilson Boulevard. During the argument that followed, Geldart is accused of grabbing Woodward by the neck.

Video obtained by Fox5 television shows Geldart pushing Woodward, who then shoves the deputy mayor’s arms away.

Woodward filed a criminal complaint with the Arlington County magistrate’s office, claiming assault and battery.

An Arlington County police report said, “The suspect and male victim became engaged in a verbal dispute after the door of the suspect’s parked vehicle struck the vehicle the victim was entering.”

The police report listed Geldart as living in Falls Church, Va. D.C. law requires that all city government employees earning more than $150,000 a year must live in the District if they were hired after 2019.

When Mayor Muriel Bowser nominated Geldart to become a deputy mayor in 2019, he listed his home address in D.C.’s Ward 6.

The discrepancy in home addresses prompted a second investigation by the D.C. government.

For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.