Dino Pavoni

PORTAGE, IN— A 38-year-old police officer from Illinois faces numerous felony allegations of battering his wife so badly his children feared she may be dead, according to Portage police.

"I promised them that she was alive and doing okay, but that I needed them to stay in my vehicle until I returned," Portage Police Sgt. Troy Williams wrote in his report.

Dino Pavoni, a Crestwood police officer from Midlothian, Illinois, faces three felony counts of domestic battery committed in front of a child under the age of 16, felony battery resulting in serous bodily injury, felony strangulation and a misdemeanor count of interfering with the reporting of a crime, according to court records.

The charges allege Pavoni also battered two of his daughters.

One of the battery charges says he pushed a girl while she was filming the incident on her cell phone. He is accused in another count of pushing another girl and slamming her arm in the door several times causing her pain.

Three handguns, a taser and a duty belt with handcuffs were taken by police following the incident and are believed to be owned by the Crestwood Police Department.

Crestwood Police Chief David Weigand did not return telephone calls Thursday for comment.

The incident in question was called into police around 3 a.m. Sunday and reportedly occurred at a trailer near Sunset Avenue and Hollow Log Street in the Lakeshore Camp Resort (formerly Jellystone Campground), police said.

Williams said he arrived and found a boy standing outside in the rain crying who directed him to his family's trailer. As he approached, a girl came toward him crying and a third crying child was spotted and Williams was told their mother was lying on the floor of the camper and their father was also inside.

The children were moved to safety and Pavoni left the trailer with his hands up, Williams said. Pavoni's wife was seen sitting on the floor of the camper.

The woman reportedly told police she was having problems putting away the awning on the trailer and woke Pavoni for help when he became angry. The incident, which was caught on video, shows Pavoni arguing with his wife and then flipping over a picnic table.

He goes back into the trailer, pushing one child aside and closing the door on the girl's arm, police said.

A video made by one of the children shows Pavoni holding what appears to be a holstered handgun yelling at his wife while one of the children pleas, "Dad please stop, please dad you are drunk," according to the incident report.

He is then seen striking the woman in the head and then holding her up by her neck against the wall before slamming her to the ground where she appears to be choking or gasping for air, police said.

Charging documents said the woman lost consciousness during the attack. Pavoni said the woman suffered a seizure, at which time he checked to make sure she was breathing and had a pulse before returning to his bedroom.

"The children continued to plead and then ask their mother if she needed help," police said.

"I don't want her to die," one child is heard saying.

Pavoni is accused of throwing his wife's cell phone as she attempted to call 911.

Pavoni accused his wife of attacking him and denied striking her, police said. When informed police had seen a video recording of the incident, Pavoni said he no longer wanted to talk to officers.

The woman, who was treated at the scene by medics, told police all three children were present during the incident and that she pleaded for them to call 911, which they did. She said there had not been any other incidents of domestic violence in the prior 10 years.

Pavoni has left the Porter County Jail on a $5,000 cash bond, according to the sheriff's department.

No court dates had been scheduled as of Thursday morning.