Tyler Tannenbaum
(SPD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 26-year-old Stillwater man, who has been jailed on $250,000 bail since his arrest, has been given a 20-year prison term followed by 10 years of probation for stabbing his girlfriend in the neck and chest, along with a concurrent five years’ incarceration for killing a dog that was stabbed in the abdomen and leg.
Tyler J. Tannenbaum had pleaded guilty to assault and battery by means and force likely to produce death of his girlfriend, as well as animal cruelty without an agreement with the prosecution regarding his penalty.
At his sentencing hearing last week, Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling told Tannenbaum that when he finishes his prison term, he must register as a violent offender, have a mental health evaluation, follow its recommendations and have no contact with his victim.
Tannenbaum had been arrested at 5:44 pm on Jan. 30, 2023, outside his apartment, seven minutes after multiple officers were sent on a report a woman had been stabbed in the area of 4th Avenue and Duncan Street in Stillwater, according to an affidavit.
“While enroute, I heard Officer Behne state that the wound may be an arterial bleed and that medical services needed to expedite their response,” Stillwater Police Officer Jonathon DeVore wrote in an affidavit.
“Upon arriving on scene, I observed Officer Behne and Officer Gee standing next to (the woman), who was seated on the south curb in approximately the 200 block of W. 4th Ave. I observed Officer Behne place paper towels against the front of the female’s throat,” where blood was spurting, the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“Officer Behne stated via radio that the suspect’s name was Tyler. As Sgt. Gripe and I approached the (suspect’s) residence, I observed movement in an upstairs window,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
Ordered to come out, “The male exited the residence with his hands up and began walking toward Sgt. Gripe. I ordered the subject to drop to his knees. The subject continued walking toward Sgt. Gripe despite both of us ordering him to stop walking.
“Based on the present circumstances, I drew my department issued Taser 7 and aimed toward the male subject. After aiming near the subject’s belt line, I deployed the taser,” which struck Tannenbaum in the right pectoral muscle and right thigh before he fell on his left side and was arrested, the officer wrote in his affidavit.
“While officers stood by with Tyler, I joined Sgt. Gripe, Sgt. Blakey and Detective McSpadden in performing a security sweep,” of the suspect’s apartment where a large amount of blood was in the kitchen and dining area, along with blood droplets inside the front entry door, the officer wrote in his affidavit.
A deceased dog with a stab wound on the left side of its abdomen and another on the left rear leg was lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, the affidavit said.
A neighbor said, “she heard a female screaming from inside” the apartment and then “a loud banging noise as if someone was hitting the floor or walls,” the affidavit said.
The victim, who was bleeding from a vessel in her neck and had a collapsed lung, was transported to Stillwater Medical Center and then flown to OU Medical Center, police said. She had two puncture wounds, one on the front of her throat and another on the right side of her chest below the clavicle, the affidavit said.
She said she “had come up from Moore to visit Tyler. Tyler had been acting weird and thought that she was trying to ‘set him up.’ (She) stated that Tyler had strangled her during the altercation saying, ‘he tried to choke me to take me out faster,"” the affidavit said.
She said, “Tyler had attacked her with a kitchen knife,” the affidavit said. Two knives were found in the apartment that were believed to be the weapons used in the assault, the affidavit said.
