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SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City police officer has been charged in a domestic violence case.
Matthew Collins, 25, of Bluffdale, was charged Friday in 3rd District Court in West Jordan with one count of aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. He has been in Davis County Jail since Friday afternoon, booking documents show.
The charges stem from allegations of violence that occurred in March 2016 that came to light a year later as detectives interviewed a woman about a more recent report of verbal abuse by Collins.
His attorney, Rebecca Hyde Skordas, said she was on deadline working on another case Monday evening and could not immediately comment on the charges.
Efforts to confirm his job status with Salt Lake police were unsuccessful. An online city directory updated on June 1 identifies him as a police officer, and a Facebook page under his name lists a 2015 start date at the department.
On March 20, his then-wife told a Bluffdale police detective that he pushed, hit and choked her several times in Washington State and twice at their home in Utah, where they lived as Collins was training to become a police officer, according to a probable cause statement. The couple has since divorced.
The two began arguing one day in March 2016 and he gripped her throat with both hands, causing her to begin "seeing spots" before knocking her down and handcuffing her, charging documents state. She estimated he left for an hour or more before releasing her, she told the detective.
Another time in early summer 2016, she told police, he pushed her down the stairs and choked her to unconsciousness. A friend's husband told police that on June 10 of last year he saw bruising on her neck, charges state.
Matthew Collins told the officer about a time he had handcuffed her and left her for 20 to 30 minutes because he believed she was suicidal and didn't want her to harm herself, court documents state. He told the officer he realizes he should have called police.
Detectives interviewed his roommate, who said he had recently recounted handcuffing the woman to keep her from hurting herself.
