The governor said he was aware that Mr. Johnson might have had another problematic encounter with a girlfriend last October in the Bronx. He described it, essentially, as a bad breakup.
Interviews with people who have been briefed on the police report indicate that the police responded at 9:50 p.m. on Halloween night, and that the dispute involved the woman’s costume and whether Mr. Johnson had torn it off her or menaced her further. Mr. Johnson was gone, the interviews suggest, by the time the police arrived.
The woman, in a brief interview this month, said that there had been an incident and that she had not seen Mr. Johnson since. She would not comment further.
Asked whether Mr. Johnson’s history had been considered before his most recent promotion, to director of executive services — he received a raise of $23,850 — Mr. Paterson said: “Obviously, it was a breakup. They know a number of people in common, and it just sounded like breakups you hear about all the time.”
Mr. Paterson also said that Mr. Johnson had grown significantly over the years and that he did not believe that Mr. Johnson had problems with women.
“In D. J.’s case, other than, you know, that he had broken up with a few women that he went out with, I have not found him to be that kind of person,” the governor said.
Referring to the October episode, he added: “I think in anybody’s history, you can come up with a couple incidents where they acted improperly. And this may, and I accentuate may, have been one of them.”
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