'DWTS' Pro Artem Chigvintsev Arrested for Domestic Violence | TMZ Live
"Dancing With The Stars" pro Artem Chigvintsev is in jail in Napa, California ... because he's been arrested for domestic battery ... TMZ has learned.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00So we have a lot of information now on this domestic dispute
00:05that got Dancing with the Stars star Artem Chigvintsev arrested.
00:11And this happened yesterday.
00:13And we now know something that led up to this fight that got
00:18him arrested for felony domestic violence.
00:21So here's what we know.
00:23He was at the house with his wife,
00:26Nikki Garcia, who is Nikki Bella, for people who know WWE.
00:32Napa County, this is in.
00:33This is in Napa County.
00:34They were at the house.
00:35At 830 in the morning, Artem called 911 to report that they
00:42needed an ambulance because of some kind of a medical issue.
00:47And then he called back, we're told, and said, cancel it,
00:53which is really interesting.
00:54Why would he say cancel it?
00:56Right, why call?
00:58So now we have something new.
01:00We actually got the dispatch call.
01:03And this is the call that the dispatcher for the paramedic
01:07and the fire department uses to dispatch the various teams.
01:12They were sending a team to Artem and Nikki's house.
01:16And it aligns with what we reported, but adds some detail.
01:20Here it is.
01:20Initially, this came in as the RP requesting medical,
01:25but now the RP's stating he got into an argument with his wife,
01:27and his wife threw shoes at the RP.
01:30There is a child on scene.
01:35Affirms medical's en route.
01:36They're staging.
01:37There's an active 415 in the background.
01:39The irresponsible is going to be a Nicole Garcia, born in 83,
01:43trying to get the two parties to separate.
01:45The RP's stating no medical is needed now.
01:48Just for further, there's a four-year-old child on scene.
01:51Irresponsible RP's wife currently has a child.
01:54So it aligns with what we said, which is he calls back.
01:59So now the issue is, why did he call back and say, no, don't come here?
02:04And by the way, the paramedics did turn around and never came.
02:07But what did happen was this triggers a police response.
02:11And about an hour later, the police showed up.
02:13They saw marks.
02:14We now know from the dispatch call that the marks were allegedly on Nikki.
02:20And he was arrested for felony domestic battery.
02:26So now the question, why would he call off the paramedics
02:31once he said there was a need for medical attention?
02:35And it may well be that he felt this seems a little incriminating.
02:40Yeah, I think there are a couple things at play here.
02:42First of all, we should explain that as soon as the police see marks on the alleged victim,
02:46they're legally obligated to perform an arrest at that point.
02:51And that's what triggers a felony as well.
02:53The second point is to answer the question.
02:55Obviously, there are many possible reasons why somebody might decide to call off the call to 911.
03:03But one that jumps out at us in this situation,
03:05and we see it from time to time in domestic violence situations,
03:08is that either the perpetrator of the crime, the domestic violence,
03:13does not want authorities to come as change of mind,
03:16because they realize how incriminating it may look.
03:18Or oftentimes, unfortunately, a victim of domestic violence
03:22will not want the perpetrator to get in trouble.
03:24We see that all the time in domestic violence situations.
03:27We're still waiting for the facts here.
03:29But given the circumstances, it's hard not to sort of look at conclusions
03:33that really look bad for Artem.
03:36So by the way, there's a four-year-old child they have that was there, as Jason said.
03:42Yeah.
03:42And as you hear in The Dispatch.
03:44But there seemed to be trouble in this one-year-long marriage already.
03:48So this is Nikki on the Caitlin Bristow podcast back in 2021,
03:53when they were talking about the fact that they were already in therapy.
03:56When he gets really stressed, he doesn't realize his tone.
04:01We're actually in therapy for this.
04:03And I remember even during dress rehearsals,
04:06sometimes then I'd be like, is he mad at me?
04:09And it would make me feel really off.
04:11And it would just be his tone.
04:13And I was like, oh, it was like hard.
04:16Well, that's interesting.
04:16And by the way, that's Caitlin Bristow, whose podcast that was.
04:19She was saying during the podcast that she had issues with him, too.
04:23Right, right.
04:24The way he talks, people thinking that he's mad at them.
04:27The reality is that these two have not even known each other for all that long.
04:31They've been married two years.
04:32They just celebrated the wedding anniversary.
04:34And to have alleged violence in the relationship, this is a bad, bad thing here.
04:40Hi, my name is Lashay Sweeney, and I'm from Philadelphia.
04:42You know, I think it's really sad to see domestic violence cases like this,
04:46especially with children involved.
04:48You know, I hope that couples therapy can maybe help them for the sake of their family.
04:51But I believe usually in these cases, they don't usually work out how you would want them to.
04:55You know, I don't personally know them.
04:57But I think if they are constantly fighting and arguing,
04:59maybe it's best for them to spend some time apart.
05:02But I do still hope for the best for their family because I hate to see families separate.
05:05But sometimes it may be healthier for everyone involved that way.
05:09Well, based on what we're hearing, by the way, this could be a breaking point.
05:12Yeah.
05:13So we will see.