NewsCrime and Courts

Actions

Billings police respond to reports of son choking father in two separate incidents

Posted at 1:54 PM, Jan 09, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-09 18:08:21-05

BILLINGS – Prosecutors say a Billings man attempted to strangle his father twice, during two separate altercations in early January at a home in the Heights.

Paul Dennis, 36, appeared in Yellowstone County Justice Court Tuesday to face felony charges of partner or family member assault, criminal mischief and tampering with a communication device.

Billings police officers responded to a home on Bench Boulevard on Jan. 3 where there was a disturbance between Dennis and his 69-year-old father.

The father told police it all started when Dennis’ girlfriend texted the victim and Dennis demanded to know what the text said. The altercation soon became violent in nature when Dennis allegedly following his father to a nearby bedroom and placed his arm around his father’s neck and began choking him.

Police reports say, Dennis’s father then struck his son with a towel rack to get away. Dennis then fled the home and police were unable to locate him.

Then on Monday, another disturbance between the father and son was reported to police again at a home on Bench Boulevard.

This time, police report that Dennis arrived at his father’s house drunk, at around midnight to make something to eat.

When his father told him to leave, Dennis became upset, according to court documents, and things started to escalate.

Dennis allegedly took his father’s phone so he couldn’t call 911. When the victim tried to get his phone back, police say Dennis threw his father to the ground and began to strangle him again.

The victim told police he was afraid his son was going to kill him. He was also punched 10-15 times in the face.

Dennis was arrested and taken to the Yellowstone County Detention Facility.

Reporting by Andrea Lutz for MTN News