Police seeking arrest of Pennsylvania state lawmaker for allegedly violating restraining order

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Philadelphia police said Tuesday that they issued an arrest warrant for a state lawmaker for violating a restraining order.

A police spokesperson said the agency was unable to discuss the details of the warrant issued for Rep. Kevin Boyle.

The arrest wouldn’t be the first for Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat who was charged in 2021 with harassment and violation of a protection from abuse order after showing up at his wife’s house. His attorney at the time called it a “domestic issue” in which Boyle was not accused of committing violence.

Neither Boyle nor his lawyer from the 2021 case immediately returned a telephone message Tuesday evening. The charges were dropped, and Boyle told constituents in a letter in 2022 that subsequent treatment at a mental health facility helped save his life, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The Inquirer has reported that House officials stripped Boyle of his committee chairmanship and Capitol access privileges in February, following an episode at a Montgomery County bar.

House officials took similar steps after Boyle’s 2021 arrest. At the time, House Democratic leaders said Boyle had “ongoing mental health challenges.”

Boyle, 44, is running for an eighth term in the state House of Representatives. He is being challenged in next Tuesday’s primary election by Sean Dougherty, the son of state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty and nephew of former organized labor leader John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty.

Boyle’s brother, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, is a member of Congress from Philadelphia.