Garrett Thomas Monaco
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Stillwater man accused of holding a knife to his girlfriend’s neck, choking her, and interfering with a 911 call has been jailed on $50,000 bail pending a Jan. 9 court appearance at which he can seek a preliminary hearing.
If convicted of a three-count charge on which he was arraigned last week, Garrett Thomas Monaco, 40, could be incarcerated for 14 years, court records show.
Monaco was arrested at his trailer in the 2900 block of E. 6th Avenue at 3:30 am on Dec. 18, after a 911 caller requested help and then the line was disconnected, Stillwater Police Officer Christopher Houston wrote in an affidavit.
“Officer Goree arrived on scene moments before I did. Goree said he saw two individuals standing on the front porch when he arrived and later determined there was a physical altercation that had just taken place,” Officer Houston wrote in his affidavit.
The man who had called 911 said that he and the couple “were outside drinking and having a good time outside by the front porch,” when the couple began to argue so he went inside the trailer, the affidavit alleged.
He said that at one point, the couple went inside to their bedroom and continued to argue — so he went to check on them and saw Monaco standing over his girlfriend with a hand around her neck and a knife in the other hand close to her neck, the affidavit alleged.
He said that he struck Monaco over the head with a pan to get him off the woman, the affidavit alleged. He said that Monaco let go of the woman, but chased him and tackled him, the affidavit alleged. He said he told Monaco to calm down, but Monaco continued to yell at him — so he walked outside to call police, the affidavit alleged.
He said that as he was on 911 with a dispatcher, Monaco took his phone away and terminated the call before police arrived, the affidavit alleged.
Monaco’s girlfriend said that Monaco was highly intoxicated, the affidavit alleged. She said that after she locked herself inside the bathroom, Monaco “knocked the door open and he began to choke her with one of his hands,” the affidavit alleged.
She said that Monaco “was armed with a knife in the other hand as he was choking her. After he was done choking her, he then turned the knife to himself and threatened to kill himself,” the affidavit alleged.
When the officers went inside Monaco’s bedroom, he appeared to be asleep, the affidavit alleged. “Officer Goree later told me he located a brown-colored pocket-knife underneath the pillow the suspect was sleeping on,” that the victim identified as the one he was holding during the assault, Officer Houston alleged in his affidavit.
