A Wicomico County Sheriff's Office Deputy arrested after allegedly choking and threatening to kill his girlfriend, then damaging the cruiser of a police officer who responded to the woman's call for help, has been suspended from his job with pay, county Sheriff Mike Lewis said Monday.
Joel Arnold also was hospitalized for treatment of an unknown injury, although a Salisbury Police Department report on a domestic dispute early Sunday said Arnold accidentally fell down a flight of steps during an altercation at the couple's residence on Canvasback Court.
The 32-year-old Arnold also cracked or bent a visor on the passenger side of a police cruiser that had arrived at the scene about 6 a.m., according to the SPD report.
The Salisbury Police Department is investigating the criminal case that charges Arnold with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, false imprisonment and malicious destruction of property at or over $500, according to the SPD.
The county Sheriff's Office also is conducting an internal probe of the alleged incident, Lewis said.
"We are working cooperatively with the Salisbury Police Department in the criminal investigation," the Sheriff said late Monday, "and we are conducting a concurrent internal investigation, as it is also a personnel matter."
A telephone conversation between Arnold and his estranged wife triggered an argument between him and his girlfriend, Joy Powell, with whom the suspect shared the Canvasback Court residence, according to the SPD. The argument preceded the alleged assault and verbal threat on Powell, reports said.
According to police accounts, Powell awakened at about 4 a.m. Sunday to overhear Arnold on the phone "yelling and arguing" with a person he told his girlfriend was his wife. Moments later, Powell and Arnold began arguing, and when he "became extremely angry," she reached for a cell phone to call police, the victim told authorities.
"As she was dialing the number, Arnold grabbed her by the neck with two hands and began choking her while pressing her up against the wall," according to a summary of a statement Powell gave police.
The victim said that Arnold then pressed something against her throat, "cutting off the airway and yelling, 'I'm going to kill you,' " according to a police report.
The victim told police that she escaped, but was unsuccessful in an attempt to flee through the front door, saying Arnold "ran past her and prevented her from leaving ... by shutting the door and locking it, utilizing the deadbolt."
Arnold then grabbed Powell by the right wrist and left arm, pinning her against a wall, and police investigators said in a report that she had bruising in those areas of her body.
Powell told police that during a moment Arnold was distracted, she fled again to the front door, and he "tripped and fell down the entire flight of stairs and landed at the bottom."
A neighbor called authorities, she told police.
Powell refused medical attention or assistance by a crisis agency, according to police.
Arnold, meanwhile, sitting inside a police cruiser, "began damaging the interior of the marked Salisbury Police vehicle," according to a report.
The suspect then was transported to Peninsula Regional Medical Center, police said.
It was unclear whether the charge of malicious destruction of property also included items allegedly broken inside the residence during the confrontation between Arnold and Powell. Police said it was determined that those items belonged to the suspect.
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http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20090407/NEWS01/904070326
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