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Former Cambridge city councilor charged with kidnapping after hotel incident
At a Holiday Inn in Cambridge, police said they found Nadeem Mazen bleeding and foaming at the mouth as he tried to scale a fence.
Former Cambridge City Councilor Nadeem Mazen was arrested last month and now faces charges of kidnapping, intimidating a witness, and destruction of property, according to a police report and court records.
Cambridge Police officers responded to the Holiday Inn Express on Monsignor O’Brien Highway for a report of a disturbance April 16. Officers found Mazen climbing over a fence that surrounded an electrical transformer area that was off-limits to the public, police said. He was bleeding from an open cut on his hand, his pants were ripped, as was his shirt collar. In their report, an officer described Mazen as being “out of breath, long winded, foaming from the mouth, and very paranoid.” He was unable to stand still while police spoke with him, according to the report.
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Mazen told police that a woman inside the hotel has a non-sexual relationship with him and “begs for rent money.” He said that he was paranoid because she was secretly recording him. He told police that the cut on his hand came from a glass that she threw at him, which also smashed a window, according to the report.
Inside, the woman told police that Mazen invited her to the hotel, that there was cocaine and ketamine there, and that Mazen was very inebriated when she arrived. She said that the concept of her secretly recording Mazen was a paranoid fantasy.
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Mazen took her cell phone and locked her in the bathroom, she told officers. After she got out, she threatened to call the police using the landline in the hotel room. Mazen took the landline and threw it at the hotel window, according to the report. When officers entered the hotel room, they found a broken window and glass scattered on the floor.
Mazen was eventually forcibly loaded into an ambulance. He “began to foam even more at the mouth” and refused to cooperate, police said. He tried pushing police officers away and continued yelling at them throughout the interaction, according to the police report. Mazen was sedated once he was placed on a stretcher. Police filled out a section 12 report.
The woman was not identified by officials. Police said in the report that she was not injured and declined medical attention.
Mazen was arraigned in Cambridge District Court April 17 and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was released on the condition that not contact the woman and that he abstain from drug and alcohol use, according to court documents. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for June 25.
Zachary Barry, an attorney representing Mazen, said in a statement to The Boston Globe that Mazen “categorically denies the charges brought against him.”
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“Throughout his career, Mr. Mazen has been known for his dedication to public service and social impact, and he remains committed to the values that have guided him both personally and professionally,” Barry added. “Out of respect for the ongoing proceedings, at this time we request privacy for Mr. Mazen and his family.”
Mazen attended MIT and served on Cambridge City Council from 2014 to 2017. At one time, he was the state’s only Muslim elected official. In 2018, he briefly ran to succeed Rep. Niki Tsongas in Congress before dropping out of the race.
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