A longtime Airbnb host is facing charges for allegedly attacking two people at his East Boston property, but he says he is baffled as to why he was arrested instead of the guests.
An Airbnb host in East Boston was arrested after allegedly attacking two guests at his property, but he says police have it wrong.
Alexander Ermilov describes it as the fight of his life, with a broken chair, blood on the wall and a smashed door providing reminders of the weekend struggle.
"I was afraid [for] my life. In the moment, I felt I might die because there was two of them," Ermilov said.
The host was the only person arrested in the incident.
Ermilov, who says he's rented the unit on Airbnb more than 1,300 times and was named an Airbnb "Super Host" a half dozen times, says one of his guests became mad when he told him he wasn't allowed to have company over.
That's when he says things got bad. Ermilov says the two attacked him, so he reached for a kitchen knife. Then, he says, one of them grabbed a coffee pot.
"Took the coffee pot, and smash it on my head," Ermilov said.
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Police arrested Ermilov and charged him with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Monday night, with his glasses still held together with tape, he says police arrested the wrong person.
"It's terrible," he said. "I don't know what to say."
Airbnb tells NBC10 Boston it is reaching out to police in an effort to get a better understanding of what happened but in a statement said they have a zero-tolerance policy for this type of behavior.
"There have been over 300 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings to date; negative incidents are extremely rare. We are urgently investigating this incident and are reaching out to our community members and local law enforcement to better understand what happened. We have a zero-tolerance policy for unwanted physical contact of any kind. The safety of our community is our priority," read the statement.
Ermilov, who is out on bond, is due back in court next month.
