Two Seabrook selectmen accuse each other of assault after police called to Town Hall

SEABROOK — Union contract negotiations devolved into an alleged assault between two of the town's Board of Selectmen members Monday after one called the police on the other for striking them.

Seabrook police were called at 8:55 a.m. to the town offices for a report of an assault, according to Police Chief Brett Walker. Selectwoman Theresa Kyle says she was the one who asked town staff to call the police after she said her fellow board member Srinivasan "Ravi" Ravikumar pointed in her face during a heated argument, striking below her eye.

However, while Ravikumar admitted to raising his finger during an argument in the meeting, he said it was Kyle who attempted to slap him before Selectman Harold Eaton stepped in to prevent it. He said as Kyle walked away, she threatened to call the police and told him to “Go back where you came from.” Ravikumar was born in India.

The two board members shared their sides of the story the next day as police said their investigation was underway.

Walker said all involved parties were identified, and there was no danger to the public. However, he said his department would not be sharing further information as the investigation is still open.

Both Ravikumar and Kyle said the incident stems from long-standing friction between the two over policy. Each said the other’s behavior was unbecoming of selectmen.

“She has maintained this aggressive persona all through and through,” Ravikumar said.

Kyle maintains it was Ravikumar who touched her, not the other way around.

“I wasn’t the aggressor,” Kyle said. “Arguing shouldn’t lead to physical abuse.”

What led to altercation at Seabrook Town Hall

The three-member board was meeting Monday to negotiate fire union contracts and held what Ravikumar and Kyle referred to as a “caucus” meeting with all three board members in the town manager’s office. Ravikumar and Kyle had already established themselves as opposing sides on the handling of town finances. Ravikumar said he has tried to bring down spending for the sake of the town’s future, but Kyle has said Ravikumar’s policies are hurting town employees.

In the caucus meeting, Kyle and Ravikumar both said they began to argue. Kyle said Ravikumar began pointing his finger and walked up to her while calling her “vile names.”

“He kept getting madder and madder,” Kyle said. “He was like a crazed person.”

Ravikumar denied he was the first to raise his finger and said Kyle exhibited that behavior.

“She started wagging her finger in my face,” Ravikumar said. “Then, I put the finger up as well, pointed at her, and said, ‘You will not control the words I speak.’”

Kyle claims it was when Ravikumar pointed and yelled at her that his finger made contact with her face.

“He hit me right in the cheek, right below the eye,” Kyle said. “That’s when I, you know, pushed back against him.”

Ravikumar denied ever touching Kyle. He described Kyle’s following actions as an attempted slap.

“Eaton somehow successfully stopped it,” Ravikumar said. “Only landed a glancing blow to my nose.”

That was when Ravikumar said Kyle told him, “Why don’t you go back where you came from.” Ravikumar called the remark blatantly racist.

“Which, incidentally, isn’t the first time she has said it,” Ravikumar said.

Kyle said Tuesday she was referring to Andover, Massachusetts, where Ravikumar lived before moving to Seabrook.

She acknowledged she also is from Massachusetts but said there are differences between Seabrook natives and the people who move to town from the Bay State.

“I’ve never said things like that before,” Kyle said. “He’s (previously) called me a racist.”

Kyle said she walked out of the room and asked someone to call the police. Shortly after the incident, Ravikumar said he saw Seabrook police Lt. Tim Mone in the town hall to investigate.

Ravikumar said he was told that the investigation is being handed over to New Hampshire State Police, though Walker declined to respond to an inquiry of a third-party investigation. Town Manager Bill Manzi declined to comment on the altercation, while Eaton could not be reached by phone Tuesday.

Can selectmen move past incident?

Kyle and Ravikumar both said it will be difficult to continue working together as a board moving forward. Kyle, who was elected eight years ago, said she has never seen the board so contentious and described Ravikumar as a “bully.”

“The guy has an attitude,” Kyle said. “He reminds me of a spoiled kid. ‘If I don’t get my way, I’m going to make you pay.’”

Ravikumar insists Kyle is the problem on the board. He called it “comical” that Kyle said her remark about where he “came from” referred to Andover, not India. He said the comment showed a “darkness” in Kyle. His hope is she will lose her reelection bid in March.

“I tell my friends, every Board of Selectmen meeting feels to me like walking into a slaughterhouse with Theresa being there,” Ravikumar said

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seabrook selectmen allege assault. Police called to Town Hall.