Greene County man faces charges after domestic disturbance in village

SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » A Greene County man who was arrested on Partition Street after a reported domestic disturbance faces an outstanding warrant for an alleged parole violation, Saugerties police said Thursday, May 12.

Matthew Anthony Kovacs, 31, of Vosenkill Road, Coxsackie, was arrested by Saugerties police Thursday at 199 Partition St. and was charged with unlawful imprisonment, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, all misdemeanors. He also faces a weapons charge in Kingston following a scuffle with officers in the emergency department of HealthAlliance Hospital’s Broadway Campus, Saugerties police said.

At about 1 a.m. Thursday, Saugerties police responded to the area of 1 Clermont St. in the village of Saugerties following a 911 call reporting a domestic disturbance in the area. Upon arrival, officers interviewed a woman who was walking on Clermont Street and said she had been in a fight with a man on Partition Street. Police said she provided them with little information about the alleged incident.

The woman, who police did not identify, was taken to police headquarters for a followup investigation. At police headquarters, she 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 when the two began to argue. She reported breaking free from Kovacs and running off.

Subsequently, at about 1:30 a.m., a Saugerties police officer on Partition Street came across a male, later identified as Kovacs, who was bleeding profusely from a wound in the palm of his hand, according to a press release. A request was made for medical assistance and paramedics from Diaz Ambulance responded and treated Kovacs, who was taken to the HealthAlliance Hospital’s Broadway Campus in Kingston for further treatment.

Saugerties Police Sergeant Jorge Castagnola went to the HealthAlliance Hospital to complete his investigation into Kovacs’ injury and learned that Kovacs had been involved in the earlier fight with the woman but had injured his hand sometime after that incident, police said.

While at the hospital, after several hours of waiting to be treated, Kovacs became agitated and began arguing with hospital staff, according to the press release. Kovacs then decided he was going to leave the hospital without being treated, police said.

Castagnola told Kovacs he could not leave because that there was a warrant for his arrest from Greene County and that he would bring Kovacs back to Saugerties police headquarters. At that point, Kovacs began arguing with Castagnola, stating he was not going back to jail and, after pulling a pocketknife from his pocket, held it to his own neck and attempted to walk away from the sergeant, police said.

Kovacs attempted to stab himself with the knife and, after several minutes of negotiations with Kovacs, Castagnola deployed a taser and, with assistance from hospital security, took Kovacs into custody.

Police said Kovacs then became compliant and he received 14 stitches to his hand, police said.

Five hours after arriving at the emergency room, Kovacs was returned to Saugerties and arraigned in Saugerties Village Court. An order of protection was issued on behalf of the woman who reported the incident, police said.

He was then turned over to Village of Catskill Police on a Green County Probation Department bench warrant for a violation of parole. His status was not immediately available Thursday.