By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict, who was staying in a Stillwater hotel with his wife and her two sons, has been ordered to appear in court on Jan. 14 for a preliminary hearing on charges of elbowing the older boy in the chest and interfering with a 911 call by the younger boy, court records show.
Travis Carl Palmer, 43, who got out of prison about three years ago, remains in the Payne County Jail on $7,500 bail.
Stillwater Police Officer Jonathan Brese was sent by a dispatcher, who could hear screaming in the background on a 911 open line call, to the area of a hotel on W. 6th Avenue at 1:51 a.m. on Aug. 23, an affidavit said.
“As I was pulling into the hotel, Stillwater dispatch informed me that a female was on the line (in a room) and the male suspect had left the scene on foot,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
The woman said that during an argument, “Travis became furious and he jerked the phone cord out of the wall. He grabbed her phone from her in an attempt to keep her from calling the police. He then told her, ‘I should punch you in the face so I will have a reason to go to jail.’ That was when her two sons tried to intervene.
“She told her oldest son, who was 14 years old, to call the police on his phone. When her oldest son began trying to call, Travis grabbed the cell phone from him,” the affidavit alleged.
“She turned towards her youngest son, who was 13 years old, and she told him to go in the bathroom and try to call from his computer,” the affidavit alleged.
“When she was turned, her oldest son snatched his cell phone back from Travis. Travis struck the oldest son in the chest with his right elbow. The youngest son told (her) that Travis just hit his brother,” the affidavit alleged.
The woman then grabbed both sons and pushed them in the bathroom so they could call police, the affidavit alleged.
“Travis ran out the door and she had no idea where he went from that point on,” the affidavit alleged.
The older son “had a red mark on his chest that was approximately the size of a baseball,” but did not want medical attention at the time, the affidavit said.
The woman said that the family had just moved into Stillwater, the affidavit said.
“The area was searched, but Travis was not located,” the affidavit said.
About two months later, Palmer was arrested on the two-count charge, which was filed in September, court records show.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and court records, Palmer had previously been convicted of:
* domestic assault and battery in Payne County in 2014 for which he was given a one-year sentence in 2015;
* second-degree forgery in Payne County in 2014 for which he was given an eight-year prison term in 2015 and served two years;
* grand larceny in Payne County in 2012 for which he was given a concurrent eight-year prison term in 2015 and served two years;
* uttering forged instruments in Comanche County in 2006 for which he was given a three-year prison term in 2006 and served one year;
* uttering forged instruments in Payne County in 2003 for which he was given a four-year prison term in 2004 and served one year and five months;
* uttering forged instruments in Comanche County in 2003 for which he was given a concurrent two-year prison term and served eight months;
* second-degree burglary in Payne County in 2003 for which he was given a concurrent four-year prison term in 2004 and served one year and five months;
* false declaration of ownership in pawn in Comanche County in 2003 for which he was given a one-year prison term in 2003 and served five months;
* false declaration of ownership in pawn in Comanche County in 2002 for which he was given a concurrent one-year prison term in 2003 and served four months.
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