NORTHAMPTON — An off-duty Springfield Police officer was arrested Tuesday after he allegedly threw a phone at a woman’s throat, choked her and broke off her car’s side-view mirror.
Dushaine K. Goffe, 36, of Hatfield, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Northampton District Court to charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, strangulation or suffocation and malicious damage to a motor vehicle. Goffe was ordered held without right to bail pending a dangerousness hearing, scheduled for Friday.
Goffe was suspended with pay Tuesday by Springfield Police, according to a tweet by department spokesman Ryan Walsh.
Police reports included in court documents indicate the incident was a domestic assault but there were no charges filed of that nature. The Gazette generally does not identify alleged victims of domestic assault.
Northampton Police received a report of a disturbance at Meadowbrook Apartments on Bridge Road just before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The alleged victim told police she had a drink with Goffe earlier in the evening at a bar in Northampton after he finished his shift and that the two were at the bar until last call. During that time, Goffe became “agitated with her, choked her, and at one point moved his clothing to reveal a firearm on his hip while he was playing pool,” according to court documents. Goffe followed the woman out of the bar and continued to follow her in his car until the two reached a gas station in Florence.
The woman told police that at the gas station, Goffe threw his phone hard at her throat, according to court documents. When interviewed by police, Goffe told officers that at the gas station, the woman approached the passenger side of his vehicle.
“After a great deal of thinking, Goffe also advised that he had gotten out of his vehicle to retrieve his cell phone,” officer Steven Rattelsdorfer wrote in his report. “Goffe was unable to tell officers how his phone ended up outside of his vehicle and could not recall if he threw his phone at” the alleged victim. He later told police he was not sure if he had thrown his phone at the woman but said he “could have,” according to court documents.
Goffe told police he followed the woman after she left the gas station to where he believed she was meeting another man, according to Rattelsdorfer’s report. When the woman arrived at Meadowbrook Apartments she was met by a group of friends who ushered her inside the building while others began yelling at Goffe to leave, according to the report.
Officers found her car parked at an “unusual angle and was half on the curb/sidewalk and also partially stuck in a snow bank behind the vehicle,” Northampton Police Officer Heather Longley wrote in a report.
When first asked about the damage to the woman’s vehicle, Goffe told officers it was months old and that he did knock the mirror off the car but only because it was already broken. He also told officers that he could not be charged with malicious damage for breaking something he fixed, Rattelsdorfer wrote.
The officer noted that police inspected the damage to the car and were unable to find any tape or adhesive residue on the mirror. Goffe later told police he tried to knock the mirror off and it fell or may have broken off.
“Goffe had difficulty recalling events and most of the specifics of his story,” Northampton Police Officer Brandon Lagoy wrote in a report. “Goffe went on to say that he was unsure about some of the details because he was ‘pretty drunk’ and had consumed more alcohol than he normally does.”
The woman and two of her friends reported to police they either saw Goffe punch the mirror off the right-hand side of the car or heard a loud pop and then saw the mirror dangling off the car, according to court documents.
Goffe previously was the defendant in four civil restraining orders brought by two different plaintiffs and was charged with domestic assault and battery in Palmer District Court, according to court documents. That domestic assault charge was continued without a finding.
The alleged victim in Northampton told police that Goffe has “always been aggressive and intimidating, but because he is a police officer” she did not report “numerous incidents,” Longley wrote. The woman told police Goffe has hit her in front of his friends and family, sprained her ankle and has “put countless bruises” on her face and body, according to Longley’s report.
“He hits me in public and yells at anyone who tried to intervene and tells them I’m a hoe and a slut and a liar and therefore I deserve the way he treats me,” the woman told police. “He constantly tells me and others that because he’s the police that we cannot get him in trouble, and that he will ‘ruin my life.’”
The woman also told police that last time she called officers in Hatfield she had visible markings on her face and throat area “but the police did not help her and were actually joking with Goffe and making small talk about mutual friends they have on the force,” Longley wrote.
According to court documents, a Springfield Police sergeant picked up Goffe’s Smith & Wesson duty weapon from Northampton Police about 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. Goffe has been a member of the Springfield department since 2008, according to Walsh.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettnet.com.