Goshen Cop From Milford Facing ChargesELKHART COUNTY – A Goshen police officer is suspended and facing charges for allegedly strangling his wife in November.
Joshua Allen Owens, 37, recently was arrested Tuesday and booked in the Elkhart County Jail after prosecutors filed two Level 6 felony charges against him for strangulation and domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years old.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed Monday in Elkhart Superior Court I, on Nov. 14 Indiana State Police opened a criminal investigation into Owens after speaking with Owens’ wife who said she was strangled and battered by her husband.
The victim told police she has been married to Owens for eight years and he has been a police officer for 13 years. She said the incident happened at their home at 20715 Krista Drive, Milford.
According to court documents, the woman told police she has witnessed Owens abuse alcohol and make suicidal statements while holding a handgun in his house. She said Owens’ alcohol abuse has gotten worse since the recent death of his father. She added that he takes prescription medication for PTSD.
At 11:30 p.m. Nov. 6, the woman said Owens arrived at their home intoxicated and she was in bed. Owens then entered into the bedroom and demanded she get out of bed and make him food.
According to the affidavit, Owens then grabbed her with both hands and wrapped them around her throat to the point that she could not breathe or scream. At this point, one of the two 13-year-old children who were present in the home came into the room and began hitting Owens on his back to get him to stop choking the woman.
After the child left, according to court papers, the violence continued and included Owens allegedly hitting her open-handedly on the left side of her face before drawing his police-issued gun from his hip and pointing it at her forehead. Owens then allegedly put the gun in his mouth and asked her to pull the trigger.
The victim told police, “It’s the same handgun he wears every day for work” and that she knows the firearm was loaded because “he would never carry an unloaded firearm as a police officer,” according to the affidavit.
During the incident, the woman told police Owens flipped over their bed and a dresser in the bedroom, took her clothing out of the closet and threw it on the floor, spat in her face and then attempted to urinate on her clothes.
When police spoke to one of the children present at the home, the child said she went in the bedroom because she heard the woman yell her name and then she saw Owens choking the woman, according to court papers.
The child said she tried to pull Owens off of the woman, and eventually Owens stopped. When police asked the child if she knew what the argument was about, she said, “All I know, it’s about a piece of pizza because he was telling her to make him pizza because we had pizza that night for dinner,” according to the affidavit.
The child further told police Owens hit the woman all the time and the woman tells him to stop but he won’t, according to court documents.
Owens posted a $3,000 bond and has retained Peter Britton, of Elkhart, as an attorney, according to court records.
Goshen Mayor Jeremy Stutsman said Owens was immediately placed on administrative leave and removed from active duty in November while a criminal investigation was being conducted.
Owens was summoned to return to work Feb. 8 in an official non-police capacity, but Owens chose to use his personal time rather than return, according to Stutsman.
Now that formal charges are filed and the criminal investigation is complete, Goshen Police Chief Jose Miller requested Owens be suspended without pay.
Stutsman said he will begin the process of suspending him without pay Monday. If Owens is convicted, Owens will be dismissed from the force, Stutsman said.
