Councilman allegedly assaulted by sister
WOONSOCKET – The sister of City Council Vice President Jon Brien was arrested Tuesday on charges of assaulting him in the driveway of their father’s home on South Main Street.
Jennifer Brien, 49, of 513 South Main St., allegedly slapped her 46-year-old sibling in the face about 12:20 p.m. After being struck, Jon Brien later told police, he grabbed his sister to defend himself and pushed her against a garage door, causing a window to break.
After interviewing both Briens, police concluded Jennifer was the primary aggressor and charged her with one count of domestic assault and battery, a misdemeanor. Police said she admitted that she had followed her brother out of the house to confront him before striking him. They said she told them she had been drinking vodka and officers described her as intoxicated.
Brien told police she didn’t strike her brother until after he grabbed her by the neck and pushed her into the garage, but police said she displayed no sign of injury.
Her brother had a visible
red mark above his eye, but did not require medical treatment.
Jon Brien, of Woodland Road, said he had gone to South Main Street residence to retrieve some items for his father, who is a patient at Landmark Medical Center. His sister, who was inside the two-story residence at the time, called him on the phone as he was leaving the house and became “very argumentative,” according to a police report.
Brien told police his sister cut off the phone call, fol- lowed him outside and would not allow him to close the door.
The Briens’ father is Albert G. Brien, also a wellknown public figure in the city. It couldn’t immediately be determined why he is in the hospital. The elder Brien, of 513 South Main St., served several terms on the city council, including a stint as president until December 2016. He is also a former member of the General Assembly and worked for the city as a finance director in the 1980s.
Jon Brien’s name was redacted from a police report about the alleged assault, but he confirmed that he is the individual who filed the complaint against his sister.
While she hasn’t been in the spotlight recently, Jennifer Brien is known as a radio personality in the region. She used to have her own show on WRKO in Boston until a few years ago and had also worked for WBZ in Boston, WHJJ in Providence and WCOD-FM and WXTK, both on Cape Cod.
During a preliminary appearance in Sixth District Court on Tuesday, Brien was released on personal recognizance pending another hearing on Nov. 29, according to the judiciary’s database. In the meantime, she was ordered to have no contact with her brother.