An Oklahoma City police officer arrested for a second time by his colleagues.
Officer Sergeant Kristopher Gellenbeck, 41, faces charges of felony domestic assault and battery by strangulation, misdemeanor domestic assault and battery in the presence of a child, and misdemeanor interfering with an emergency telephone call.
Authorities were called to the Target store in the 8300 block of N Rockwell Avenue, where they reviewed surveillance footage obtained from store security.
An arrest warrant affidavit states that an Oklahoma City police detective interviewed Gellenbeck’s ex-wife and their 15-year-old son at the downtown police headquarters.
According to Gellenbeck’s ex-wife, the incident occurred during a visitation exchange in which Gellenbeck approached her vehicle, yelling at her for not responding to his text messages. Allegedly, Gellenbeck began choking their son, who was between his mother and father at the time.
The son claims that he punched his father in the nose, causing Gellenbeck to release the chokehold. Gellenbeck’s ex-wife further accused him of trying to grab her phone through her open window, prompting the son to pull Gellenbeck away from the vehicle window.
Following the altercation, Gellenbeck’s ex-wife and family left the scene. Gellenbeck, a 10-year veteran of the police department, turned himself in and has been placed on paid administrative leave, with an emergency protective order issued against him.
Oklahoma City police officer had been arrested for domestic assault before
This is the second time Gellenbeck has been arrested. In a previous incident in 2021, he was arrested on a domestic assault and battery complaint.
At that time, the Domestic Violence Unit was made aware of a case involving Gellenbeck and found that he was involved in a physical altercation that injured others. Gellenbeck was then placed on paid administrative leave following the incident.
Although kidnapping, domestic assault and battery, and interfering with an emergency telephone call charges were dismissed, Gellenbeck entered an Alford plea and received a $500 fine for misdemeanor disturbing the peace. Police Captain Valerie Littlejohn stated that this charge didn’t meet criteria for Gellenbeck to be terminated.
In 2019, Gellenbeck was part of an officer-involved shooting in northwest Oklahoma City, leading to paid administrative leave at that time.
Please see the original article on Oklahoman: OKC police officer accused of domestic assault, his second arrest
