WINSLOW — A Fairfield man was arrested Monday after allegedly strangling a small dog, but not killing it, and backing into a woman with his car during an allegedly alcohol-fueled fight at a Monument Street residence.
Reginald Horace Gatto, 57, was arrested Monday evening at his residence on Osborne Street in Fairfield and charged with cruelty to animals and assault, class D misdemeanor offenses.
According to Winslow Police Chief Shawn O’Leary, Gatto arrived “very inebriated and very hostile” around 5:30 p.m. at the residence of Edna Carranza, 40, of 25 Monument St., looking for his wife.
Carranza, her boyfriend, her 7-year-old daughter and Gatto’s wife, Unipha Gatto, were at the residence at the time of the incident, according to O’Leary.
Winslow police received a report at 5:36 p.m. of an assault at the residence, according to police call logs.
When he arrived there, Gatto shouted racial and homophobic slurs at Carranza and her boyfriend, threatened to kill Carranza’s small Chihuahua-type dog and urinated on the walkway of the residence, O’Leary said.
During the incident, Gatto grabbed the small dog by the throat and “choked it out” while it yelped, but finally released the dog, according to O’Leary.
Gatto continued to shout slurs and got into his car to leave, but Carranza, who was worried that he was too drunk to drive, attempted to stop him by standing behind the car, O’Leary said. Gatto allegedly backed the car into Carranza, but did not injure her, before driving away from the scene.
Winslow Officers Scott Christiansen and Brandon Lund arrived at the scene after Gatto had left, and they found probable cause to charge him with assault, O’Leary said.
Fairfield police officers eventually found Gatto around 7:20 p.m. at his residence and charged him in connection with the incident.
Gatto appeared in district court Wednesday in Augusta and remained in Kennebec County jail Wednesday afternoon in lieu of $1,000 unsecured bail or a contract with Maine Pretrial Services. Gatto also has been charged with two counts of indecent conduct, according to a jail official.
Peter McGuire — 861-9239
Twitter: PeteL_McGuire
Send questions/comments to the editors.
