Don McLean's wife claimed years of abuse by the "American Pie" singer in a court filing for protection after the entertainer was arrested Monday in Maine on a domestic violence charge, according to the
Portland Press Herald.
Patrisha McLean further charged in her request for a restraining order that the entertainer used anti-Semitic slurs against her while threatening to choke her before police came, said the
New York Post. Patrisha McLean obtained a temporary restraining order against her husband on Tuesday.
McLean, 70, was arrested by Camden police at his home on Hope Road early Monday, said the Press Herald, and taken to the Knox County Jail in Rockland.
A hearing on Patrisha McLean's complaint has been scheduled in Rockland District Court on Jan. 28, said
the Press Herald
, and Don McLean cannot contact her before the hearing.
"On Jan. 17, Don terrorized me for four hours until the 911 call that I think might have saved my life," Patrisha McLean said in a statement to the court for the restraining order, per the Press Herald.
Patrisha McLean said in the statement that she had been a victim of physical and verbal abuse for years as she tried to deal with her husband's temper, said the Post.
"For the first 10 years or so his rage was unfathomably deep and very scary — calling me horrible things like 'hebe' (I'm Jewish)," said Patrisha McLean's statement. "I told him he needed to cool out or I would call 911. As this did not stop the physical assaults, I reached for the landline and he reached over and threw the landline to the floor."
The singer issued a statement on his
website on Thursday, saying that he will "not be judged in this frantic media environment."
"What is occurring is the very painful breakdown of an almost 30-year relationship," Don McLean said in his statement. "Our hearts are broken and we must carry on. There are no winners or losers but I am not a villain. I may never recover from this but I will try and hope to continue to entertain you all as I always have."
Don McLean's attorney, Walter McKee, told the Press Herald that the singer will enter a not guilty plea to the misdemeanor count.
“Don was arrested based on his wife’s allegations alone. There are two sides to the story here, and at the right time Don’s side will be told,” McKee said, per the Press Herald. “Suffice to say he will make clear that he engaged in zero criminal behavior this past weekend.”
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