The Odessa Police Department charged an Ector County Sheriff’s Office detention center officer Friday morning after he reportedly pushed his wife down a stairwell and began strangling her.
Officers responded to the incident around 2:34 a.m. Friday in the 1100 block of 51st Street, the probable cause affidavit said, where they made contact with 24-year-old Malcolm Anders and his common-law wife.
His wife reportedly told police they got into a verbal argument which became physical when Anders pushed her down the stairwell in their residence. Anders then grabbed her by the neck with both hands and applied enough pressure to where she began to lose consciousness, the report stated.
After hearing the woman’s story, and noticing the red marks around her neck, officers charged Anders with assault by strangulation, a third-degree felony, the report detailed.
ECSO Spokesman Sgt. Gary Duesler said Anders was employed as a detention center officer at the Ector County Detention Center, and said he has been re-assigned to a position still in the detention center, but outside of the secured facility of the jail, pending further investigation. Duesler added he is still being paid.
OPD Spokesman Cpl. Steve LeSueur said Anders was previously enrolled in the OPD police academy, working at OPD from February 2016 to November 2016 when he resigned, but was never a police officer and never graduated the police academy. LeSueur added Anders worked with animal control for a short time before resigning.
Jail records show Anders was taken to the Ector County Detention Center Friday, and released the next day on a $15,000 bond.
