Police officer faces domestic battery charge From the News-Sentinel / FortWayne.com
By Jeff Wiehe
November 19, 2007
[Excerpts] A veteran Fort Wayne Police officer arrested Saturday on a domestic battery charge gave police conflicting stories on how he took a knife away from the woman he's accused of beating. Anthony Scatena, 43, was scheduled to have a court hearing this morning... According to a Fort Wayne Police Department report, a woman at the home claimed Scatena punched her in the head and choked her... He came home later and told her he hated her, started throwing things, called her fat, asked her if she "wanted to die" and also made threats to kill her in her sleep, she told the officer... the woman had a swollen area with some redness to it on her forehead and had "bright red marks" on her neck... Scatena told police the woman tried to come at him with a knife... Scatena changed his story on how she came at him with a knife several times, and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol..The woman also told officers Scatena said he would tell police she came at him with a knife if she called them... A domestic battery charge carries no bond, which means the suspect and suspected victim are separated for at least one night... Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York said Scatena will be relieved of duty while going through the legal process...
Officer's knife stories at odds
Relieved of duty after arrest on abuse charges
By Megan Hubartt
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN
November 20, 2007 6:00 a.m.
[Excerpts] ...Saturday after a hang-up call to 911 was made from the residence... when dispatchers called the number back, Scatena answered and told them a drunken woman was at the home and he wanted her removed... The woman told police she and Scatena had been at a bar drinking that night. She said she had a friend take her home and Scatena came home later... She said he was throwing things around, took out photos of her and told her she was fat... She said he then grabbed her by the throat, asked her whether she wanted to die and hit her in the head several times. The woman had red marks on her neck and a swollen red mark on her forehead, the report said. After he allegedly hit her, she told officers she called 911, but Scatena took the phone away from her and said he would tell police she "tried to stab me with a knife, and that’s a felony." He also threatened to kick her and her children out of the house... He said the woman attacked him with a knife while he was in bed and he knocked it out of her hands, sending it across the room... He later said she attacked him with the knife, he grabbed it from her and then placed it in between the box spring and mattress of the bed... Scatena also told officers he was putting on jeans to leave when she came at him with the knife. He said he disarmed her with both hands and then, "took her down over the end of the bed." He told officers he "may have hit her," but he did not know and was angry at the time, the report said. Police searched the bedroom but did not find a knife...
UPDATE:
Suspended officer will get no pay: Arrested on misdemeanor domestic battery charges
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN
Rebecca S. Green
December 6, 2007
[Excerpts] A Fort Wayne police officer arrested on misdemeanor domestic battery charges last month is now suspended without pay. Police Chief Rusty York removed Anthony Scatena, 43, from duty after police responded to a 911 hang-up call from a home in the 6200 block of Highgate Place at 4:15 a.m. Nov. 17. When police arrived at the house, Scatena answered the door, smelling of alcohol and appearing to be drunk, and said a woman had attacked him with a knife... Hired in 1995, he was suspended for falsely reporting his location and being outside his patrol district without permission in 2002. He was also suspended twice for improper conduct in 2000 and given two letters of reprimand for improper conduct, once in 2000 and once in 2005. When interviewed by police, Scatena gave conflicting stories about being attacked with a knife... [Full article here]
Battery charges dropped: But city police officer pleads guilty to misdemeanor in November altercation.
FortWayne.com
By Jeff Wiehe
April 15, 2008
[Excerpts] No longer facing charges that he beat his girlfriend and threatened to kill her, a veteran Fort Wayne Police officer's future with the force is still murky. Allen County prosecutors decided Friday to drop misdemeanor charges of domestic battery and battery against 44-year-old Anthony Scatena III... Scatena did plead guilty to misdemeanor invasion of privacy because he and his girlfriend had called each other more than 250 times after the incident through early February, violating a no-contact order put into place after his arrest. As part of a plea agreement, Scatena was given a one-year suspended jail sentence and ordered to serve one year of unsupervised probation, which includes the completion of a violence-abatement course.. ACCORDING TO A PROBABLE-CAUSE AFFIDAVIT, SCATENA AND THE WOMAN HAD A DOCUMENTED HISTORY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE... [Full article here]
Safety board fires police officer: Cites open defiance of court order
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, IN
Amanda Iacone
September 9, 2008
[Excerpts] A Fort Wayne police officer who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor this spring was fired Monday after the city's board of public safety determined the officer had an unacceptable pattern of misconduct and a disregard for a court order. Anthony Scatena, a 13-year veteran of the department, pleaded guilty to an invasion-of-privacy charge, a Class A misdemeanor, in April. The board had little discussion of board chairwoman Sharon Peters' motion before voting to dismiss him... [Police Chief Rusty] York asked the board to fire Scatena in May, and a closed-door evidentiary hearing was held in July to consider whether the officer violated any departmental rules and regulations... The board found that Scatena violated the no-contact order repeatedly and showed a "complete disregard for an order of the court"... The board also cited Scatena's disciplinary history in determining that "Scatena's conduct demonstrates an unacceptable pattern of conduct and a clear disregard for the rules of the department."
The board detailed six reprimands and suspensions... [Full article here]
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To the person who tried to post a comment yesterday - I can't post that.
ReplyDeleteIf you think Mr. Scatena is an unacceptable police officer...believe me...that's just the tip of the iceberg!!!
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more. His 2002 false report involved his obsession with me. The department caught him once, but he did it more than a dozen times. Same obsession was the cause for his 2006 DV arrest w/ girl friend. I was very removed from him and had no interaction, but caused jealousy with gf, comparing her to me. He would call me an 11/10 and hurt her emotionally. I was living my life while he was dreaming of being in it. Admission made many times from him to me. I moved in 2007, & am safety conscious now and making sure I send a strong message from the beginning.
DeleteTo the person who says this is your father, I am not going to post profanity and name-calling. I will paraphrase you so you can still make your point:
ReplyDeleteEvery single article was a lie. I was there.