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Background: The Fort Lauderdale Police Department in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset: Timothy Skaggs (Broward County Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida police officer who allegedly got into a physical altercation with his pregnant girlfriend tried to get her to take back her story.
According to a booking report obtained by Law&Crime, Fort Lauderdale police officer Timothy Skaggs, 39, was arrested by his own department on May 17 after his girlfriend reported that he had physically assaulted her while her two children were in the home. After police interviewed Skaggs, he reportedly called the woman while she was with other officers at her apartment. During one of those calls — where the officers recognized his voice — Skaggs allegedly told the woman, “Negate everything. Say you were drinking.”
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Skaggs, who was placed on a 180-day suspension following his arrest, allegedly told detectives that he and the woman had been in a relationship for more than a year and were living as a family with her two children. The woman corroborated the story to police. Skaggs was also married at the time, and the woman told detectives that on the night of May 16, she confronted him about still having a romantic relationship with his wife and tried to end their own relationship.
What ensued, according to the booking report, was an alleged violent altercation that included the woman being pushed down by Skaggs, “strangled” and “punched,” and restrained. The woman’s children were outside the bedroom door while the alleged assault occurred, but the woman told police that she told them she was OK.
According to the report, both children tried to call for help, but Skaggs repeatedly tried to prevent the woman and her children from making the call. He eventually left the home in his police cruiser. The woman told police that he was in uniform throughout the alleged incident.
The woman also told police that Skaggs knew she was pregnant while he allegedly committed the assault.
Skaggs volunteered to make a statement the next day and denied that he ever struck the woman, telling detectives that she was the one who struck him. Police stated that Skaggs denied any domestic violence incidents with the woman — she told them, “this happens a lot,” and had kept a photographic record of the bruises she allegedly got from Skaggs.
When the woman returned to her apartment with police officers to gather her belongings, Skaggs reportedly called her several times. One of the officers recognized his voice when she put the phone on speaker and heard him say, “I am getting a 180-day suspension, call them now.” He then ended the call.
Skaggs allegedly called again, and the woman again put the phone on speaker. Officers heard him allegedly tell her, “I am going to lose my job. You have to call them now.”
When she asked him, “Call them and say what? How can I fix this?” Skaggs allegedly responded, “Call them now. I am begging you, call them now. I am on a 180-day suspension. Negate everything. Negate everything. Say you were drinking. I don’t know, but call them now.”
Skaggs was charged with aggravated battery of a pregnant victim, false imprisonment, two counts of domestic battery, two counts of witness tampering, and two counts of robbery by sudden snatching with a firearm or weapon. He was taken into custody on May 17 and posted bond on Tuesday. He was ordered by a judge to surrender his weapons and have no contact with his alleged victim.
WPLG, a local ABC affiliate, reported that Fort Lauderdale Police Department Chief William Schultz confirmed that Skaggs was placed on paid administrative leave. In a statement, he said, “At the conclusion of these criminal proceedings, a full internal investigation will be conducted by the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department’s Office of Internal Affairs.”
Schultz added, “The alleged behavior will not be tolerated and is not representative of the men and women of the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department.”
