Post by WaTcHeR on Apr 27, 2006 12:03:06 GMT -5
04/27/2006 - PORT ST. LUCIE — A Fort Pierce police officer faces an attempted murder charge after allegedly choking his pregnant girlfriend Tuesday night and slamming her head against the floor, according to Port St. Lucie police.
Officer David Leon Clark, 42, allegedly told his 29-year-old girlfriend she could call police but "he would not let them take him alive," a police report says.
Clark, a patrol officer with the Fort Pierce Police Department for two years, was placed on administrative leave with pay. He was released Wednesday from the St. Lucie County jail on $50,000 bail, a jail official said.
The victim told police the couple has been in a "domestic relationship" for 21 months and that she's two months pregnant with his baby.
She said they began arguing while shopping for maternity clothes in Wal-Mart after the victim briefly spoke to a former co-worker. Clark, she said, was "jealous of the ex- co-worker," the report says.
When the couple returned to their home in western Port St. Lucie, she said Clark became "more and more irate," reports state.
"He started choking my trachea with one hand and as I tried to scream he covered my mouth with his other hand," the victim wrote in a statement. "I was able to kick him off me, he got on top of me again and slammed my head into the tile floor twice."
She eventually ran to her children's bedroom where she called 911.
Investigators noticed the victim had red marks and swelling on her neck, a swollen and cut lip as well as a large bump, redness and swelling on the back of her head.
Police took Clark into custody at his business on Southwest Macedo Boulevard. He was carrying a .380-caliber pistol.
Officer Robert Vega, police spokesman, said two Port St. Lucie officers attended the police academy with Clark and thought that "may have helped in the peaceful resolution."
Fort Pierce police did not allow reporters to review Clark's personnel file Wednesday, but Chief Eugene Savage said in a news release that Clark "did not have a history of complaints with the department."
Police removed several handguns and some ammunition from Clark's house for safe keeping, along with the handgun Clark was carrying.
The victim told investigators she did not feel that the baby was harmed.
Officer David Leon Clark, 42, allegedly told his 29-year-old girlfriend she could call police but "he would not let them take him alive," a police report says.
Clark, a patrol officer with the Fort Pierce Police Department for two years, was placed on administrative leave with pay. He was released Wednesday from the St. Lucie County jail on $50,000 bail, a jail official said.
The victim told police the couple has been in a "domestic relationship" for 21 months and that she's two months pregnant with his baby.
She said they began arguing while shopping for maternity clothes in Wal-Mart after the victim briefly spoke to a former co-worker. Clark, she said, was "jealous of the ex- co-worker," the report says.
When the couple returned to their home in western Port St. Lucie, she said Clark became "more and more irate," reports state.
"He started choking my trachea with one hand and as I tried to scream he covered my mouth with his other hand," the victim wrote in a statement. "I was able to kick him off me, he got on top of me again and slammed my head into the tile floor twice."
She eventually ran to her children's bedroom where she called 911.
Investigators noticed the victim had red marks and swelling on her neck, a swollen and cut lip as well as a large bump, redness and swelling on the back of her head.
Police took Clark into custody at his business on Southwest Macedo Boulevard. He was carrying a .380-caliber pistol.
Officer Robert Vega, police spokesman, said two Port St. Lucie officers attended the police academy with Clark and thought that "may have helped in the peaceful resolution."
Fort Pierce police did not allow reporters to review Clark's personnel file Wednesday, but Chief Eugene Savage said in a news release that Clark "did not have a history of complaints with the department."
Police removed several handguns and some ammunition from Clark's house for safe keeping, along with the handgun Clark was carrying.
The victim told investigators she did not feel that the baby was harmed.