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Longtime Dancing With the Stars pro Artem Chigvintsev was arrested for domestic violence this week, with a new report coming out that he was the one to call 911 on himself — before calling back to cancel.
According to a report published by TMZ on Friday, August 30 — one day after Chigvintsev’s arrest — the 42-year-old dancer called 911 around 8:30 a.m. on Thursday from the Napa Valley home he shares with his wife Nikki Garcia (formerly Bella) and their 4-year-old son, Matteo. Per the outlet’s sources, Chigvintsev made the call because he was worried about the severity of the victim’s injuries.
While paramedics and fire trucks were on their way to Chigvintsev and Garcia’s home, the ABC personality allegedly dialed 911 again to call off first responders. Following procedure, however, police still arrived at the scene, per TMZ, and arrested Chigvintsev after observing the injuries on the victim, who has not been named. The outlet reports that the TV personality was charged with “felony corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant.” He was released on $25,000 bail.
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Garcia, for her part, broke her silence on the incident on Friday.
“This is a private matter, and Nikki asks for privacy for her and her family at this time,” a rep for the WWE icon, 40, told Us Weekly.
Garcia and Chigvintsev celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary on Monday, August 26 — just days before Chigvintsev’s domestic violence arrest.
“I’ll never forget where I was when I asked Jesus about Artem,” the Total Bellas alum captioned a romantic video of her romance with Chigvintsev. “Having a conversation with He & God. How my feelings felt too soon. It all felt too fast. And then this song came on. And that’s when I knew that I was falling in love with him and that it was all meant to be.”
