By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man accused of choking his girlfriend has been jailed on $20,000 bail even though the woman said she did not want to press charges on him, court records show.
Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dalton Ross took photos of the woman’s injuries and “explained to her that he was still going to jail and the process of the charges with the District Attorney’s Office,” according to his affidavit.
Damein M. Nelson, 41, has been scheduled to appear in court today when he can seek a preliminary hearing on the felony charge of domestic assault and battery by strangulation, which carries a penalty of one to three years in prison on conviction.
The deputy was sent at 3:40 am on Oct. 18 to the woman’s rural residence on a report that “a female caller was locking herself in her bedroom trying to get away from her boyfriend who was acting out of control,” the affidavit alleged. The deputy saw Nelson outside the home, the affidavit said.
“Nelson informed me that it was just a verbal altercation and never became physical other than pointing at each other. He told me they went to the bar and when they returned home, he tried to get away from his girlfriend due to tensions being high and her becoming verbally confrontational,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
“Deputy Wheeler approached me and informed me he noticed apparent marks,” on the woman, Deputy Ross alleged in his affidavit.
When Ross went in the house, the woman “had obvious red marks on her neck and upper chest area,” as well as dried blood on her left cheek and a red swollen right eye, the affidavit alleged. “The house was in disarray and I observed potted plants thrown throughout the house,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
“She told me she informed Nelson that they were over and she did not want to be in the relationship anymore…She said she told Nelson she had plastic bags and, in the morning, Nelson could pack his stuff and leave,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
“She said she felt Nelson grab her face and hit her in the right side of the face. She told me he choked her. She said she got up and ran to the back bedroom with the other two individuals (in the house) and held the door shut using the weight of her body to hold it closed. She said Nelson tried to force his way into the room and continued to try and push the door open. She said she heard things crashing throughout the house, which she believed to be potted plants,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“She informed me that she was starting to feel some pain on the left side of her neck and asked for an ambulance to evaluate her,” which medical first responders did, but she refused medical transport, the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
Deputy Ross said, “I advised deputies to place Nelson under arrest for domestic violence by strangulation,” and told Nelson’s girlfriend about Wings of Hope along with how to obtain an emergency protective order — which she did get the next day, court records show.
***
