On Thursday, May 12 at approximately 1:00 a.m., Saugerties Police responded to a domestic disturbance at 1 Clermont Street in the Village of Saugerties. Upon arrival, officers interviewed a woman who was walking on Clermont Street. She reported to officers that she had been in an altercation with a man while on Partition Street. The woman provided little information about the alleged incident. She was transported to Saugerties Police Department headquarters for a follow-up investigation.
At 1:32 a.m. an officer encountered a man, later identified as 31-year-old Matthew A Kovacs, walking on Partition Street bleeding profusely from the hand. Paramedics from DIAZ Ambulance responded and treated Kovacs, eventually transporting him to the Health Alliance Hospital Broadway Campus in Kingston.
In a follow up interview with Kovacs at the hospital, Sergeant Jorge Castagnola learned that he had been involved in the earlier altercation with a woman.
Back at police headquarters, the woman told officers that she had been involved in a domestic incident with Kovacs and that he had held her against her will and attempted to drag her into an apartment on Partition Street before she was able to escape. After several hours at the hospital waiting to be treated, Kovacs became agitated and began arguing with staff and decided to leave without being treated.
Castagnola advised Kovacs that there was a warrant for his arrest in Greene County and that he would be bringing him back to headquarters. Kovacs began arguing with the officer stating he was not going back to jail. Kovacs then produced a small pocketknife from his pants, placed the knife to his own neck and began to walk away. Castagnola produced a taser while attempting to talk Kovacs into relinquishing the knife. After several minutes of negotiating with him, Kovacs attempted to stab himself with the knife. Castagnola deployed the taser, knocking Kovacs to the floor. With assistance from hospital security, Kovacs was taken into custody. Kovacs received fourteen stitches to his hand and five hours after arriving at the emergency room was transported to headquarters where he was processed and charged with: Unlawful Imprisonment in the 2nd Degree; Obstructing Governmental Administration; Resisting Arrest and; Criminal Possession of a Weapon.
Kovacs was arraigned in the Village of Saugerties Justice Court, before Village Justice Stan O’Dell on the misdemeanor charge of Unlawful Imprisonment in the 2nd Degree. An Order of Protection was issued by the court on behalf of the victim. The defendant was then released and turned over to the Village of Catskill Police on a Greene County Probation Bench Warrant, for a violation of probation.
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