Artem Chigvintsev has filed for his own restraining order against Nikki Garcia, disputing the WWE Hall of Famer’s version of the domestic incident that resulted in his arrest. As reported yesterday, Garcia filed for and was granted a restraining order against Chingvintsev in relation to the August 29th incident that saw the Dancing With the Stars alum arrested for domestic battery. Garcia filed for divorce last month.
According to the New York Post, Chingvintsev was granted a restraining order on Thursday, the same day that Garcia was granted her restraining order. Chingvintsev has a very different version of the events of August 29th, and his lawyer issued a statement to the Post that reads:
“It is crucial to consider the motivations of both parties in this situation. Mr. Chigvintsev contacted law enforcement on 8/29/24 seeking protection from his wife’s persistent aggression. While he was on the phone with the police, Ms. Garcia-Colace made a pointed statement, saying, ‘Do you understand where this is going now, Artem? You just ruined my career, and you know it.’ That day, someone was going to be arrested, and it wouldn’t have been Mr. Chigvintsev if Ms. Garcia Colace had told the truth. [Chigvintsev] denies ever tackling her. He was shocked to learn two weeks after the incident that she made this allegation against him; at that point it made sense to him why he was arrested. As a result of wife’s self-serving statement, Mr. Chigvintsev’s career suffered, with numerous opportunities being canceled due to these false allegations. Men can also be victims of domestic violence; Mr. Chigvintsev’s case highlights this reality. He was not the primary aggressor.”
According to Chingvintsev’s filing, the couple’s argument on that morning began when Garcia criticized him for not having their son’s breakfast and packed lunch ready. Chingvintsev claims that Garcia was “stressed due to her job that was coming up,” namely her co-hosting role on Netflix’s Unfinished Beef special, and complained that she did everything for their son while Chingvintsev did doesn’t help (which he denies).
Chigvintsev alleges that Garcia continued to verbally berate him as he took their son toward the door head for school and that the argument escalated over a talk about their son’s shoes. Chigvintsev claims that Garcia “completely lost it and started screaming ‘get the f**k out of my house, I am sick of all of it, I had enough’ before she “forcefully [threw] both of [their son]’s sneakers at me” and hit his chest with the son right next to him. He states in the filing, “[M]y first reaction was obviously safety of [the son] because he was standing right by my side.”
He then says that their son was confused and looked frightened as Garcia began screaming about wanting a divorce, and that he took their son and “tried to deescalate the situation and take him upstairs to his room.” Chingvintsev says Garcia followed and tried to force her way into the room. He alleges that “I could not hold it, because she’s quite strong” and that their son began crying, and he wanted to protect the son from Garcia’s “lack of self-control at the moment” so he pushed through the door to stop Garcia from coming in. He says that he pleaded with Garcia to calm down and stop, and that there was a “mutual struggle, and both ended up on the ground.”
Chingvintsev says he then went outside and called law enforcement, waiting for them outside. He then says he was shocked to find that he was arrested, claiming, “I had no idea what she told the police, but to my surprise I ended up getting arrested. I was not the primary aggressor, she definitely was. Since the 8/29/24 incident, I learned on 9/13/24 that she lied to the police that I tackled her twice, which is absolutely false.”
The filing includes photos of what he says are injuries caused by Garcia during the incident to to his hand, neck and elbow.
The judge has decreed that for the time being, both Chingvintsev and Garcia will share joint custody of their son and “there shall be reasonable daily FaceTime contact between the child and non custodial parent.” Neither of the two is allowed to “make negative statements about the other in the presence of hearing of the child or question the child about the other parent.”
A hearing is set for October 21st in the matter.
