Early Friday, state senator-elect Hram Monserrate, a Queens Democrat, was arrested and accused of slashing his romantic companion in the face with a broken drinking glass during a heated argument in his Jackson Heights apartment, the authorities said. Her had driven her to a hospital outside the city-limits, officials said, where she required 20 stitches.

The New York Times reports that, ‘Mr. Monserrate, 41, who is in his final days as a city councilman, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, the police said. If Mr. Monserrate is convicted, state law requires that he be expelled from the senate.”

On Friday at 4 p.m. at the 105^th Precinct headquarters in Queens, Mr. Monserrate, wearing a dark baseball cap and striped track pants, was escorted in handcuffs and placed in a police car. In a Queens Criminal Court on Friday evening, he was awaiting his arraignment. Mortimer A. Lawrence, his lawyer, could not be reached for comment.

The authorities allege Mr. Monserrate drove his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, 30, to Long island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park in Nassau County, near the Queens border. It was not made evident why he chose a hospital outside the city and 12 miles from his apartment, on 83^rd Street in Jackson Heights, because there are at least three hospitals closer, including Elmhurst Hospital Center, five blocks away.

According to the NY Times, “the incident took place several hours after Mr. Monserrate, a former police officer who sponsored at least half a dozen domestic violence bills in the City Council, gave a departing speech on Thursday in the Council, where colleagues praised his years of service. That evening he attended a holiday party held by Queens Democrats, where Caroline Kennedy, who is seeking an United States Senate seat, was a guest.”

In January, he is scheduled to be sworn in the State Senate, where he is part of an incoming class that pledged to give Democrats control of the chamber for the first time in decades. Nevertheless, three newly elected Democrats have refused to align with the party, and his demise further clouds the party’s hopes. Colleagues who attended Thursday night’s party claim that Mr. Monserrate arrived alone at about 7:45 p.m. He seemed to be in good spirits but not intoxicated. The party was held at the Queens Museum of Art in Flushing and ended at about 9 p.m.

Malcolm A. Smith, the Senate Democratic leader, said little in regards to the fate of Mr. Monserrate.

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