Wife flips off Ald. Munoz after he is again barred from his own home

Ald. Ricardo Munoz, charged with misdemeanor domestic battery, will once again be barred from returning to his Little Village home, a judge said Wednesday — three weeks after his wife, seeking reconciliation, invited him back in.

Things have soured. A situation made clear by the middle finger accompanied by the parting words “Hey, Rick, f— y–!” that Betty Torres-Munoz offered her husband as he waited for elevator doors to close after the Cook Country Domestic Violence Court hearing.

The order of protection banning Munoz from the couple’s Little Village home was reinstated Wednesday at Torres-Munoz’s request.

Torres-Munoz said she sought the reinstatement because her husband came home without informing her — and while she was not at the house — to retrieve personal items.

Also Wednesday, a Cook County judge set a trial date of May 15.

Munoz faces a misdemeanor domestic violence charge stemming from an alleged New Year’s Eve altercation with his wife.

In January, Torres-Munoz filed a petition for an order of protection saying she and her husband “engaged in a [heated] argument” and that Munoz “forcibly” grabbed her and pushed her backward, causing her to hit her back and head, and twist her arm.

Their divorce is pending.

Munoz, who did not seek re-election in the 22nd Ward, has been living with a relative in Carol Stream and is in counseling for alcoholism.

On Wednesday, he did not want to comment on the record about his relationship with his wife.

He did, however, say he hopes to continue in public service in some form after he leaves office in May.

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