POLICE: DIPLOMAT ACCUSED OF BEATING; NO CHARGES

                             

The ambassador of Equatorial Guinea is suspected of beating his daughter with a wooden chair leg but won't be arrested because he has diplomatic immunity, police said Wednesday.

Arlington County Police were called to the diplomatic residence Monday night for the report of a man beating a girl. Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said the girl sustained a "significant laceration" to her head, bruises and a swollen eye. She was taken to Virginia Hospital Center.

The diplomatic residence in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Virginia, is the home of Ambassador Ruben Maye Nsue Mangue. The news site ARLNow.com first reported the incident.

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency was in contact with local authorities but could not discuss the incident further because such matters are handled through government-to-government channels. The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and insisted on anonymity.

A person who answered the telephone at the Embassy of Equatorial Guinea declined to discuss the incident Wednesday. But she said a girl was taken to the hospital.

Late Wednesday, a woman who answered a telephone number provided by the embassy said the ambassador's 16-year-old daughter was fine and was in good spirits.

The woman, who spoke in Spanish, refused to give her name. She said the ambassador was busy hosting guests and could not talk to a reporter.

Arlington police were previously called to the home for a separate domestic incident in December 2013, Sternbeck said. But there were no arrests or charges in that case, either, due to diplomatic immunity.