GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay man will be arraigned Tuesday on charges he assaulted, bit and chased his girlfriend with a machete.
21-year-old Reinaldo Santiago-Rodriguez is charged with five counts, including first-degree recklessly endangering safety, false imprisonment and battery. All counts have the domestic abuse assessment added to them.
According to the criminal complaint, Green Bay police were dispatched around 3 p.m. on July 16 to the intersection of 9th Street and Oakland Avenue.
An officer on patrol was flagged down by a man who wanted him to speak with a woman who was with the person who called dispatch. That person said a black vehicle with two men inside just left the scene and one of them had been threatening the woman with a knife.
The complaint states that the dispatch caller had been forced to stop his vehicle for a man walking across 9th street, “with an approximately 5 inch long knife in his hand near his leg.” The man began chasing a man walking on the south side of the road near Norwood. The man being chased was able to get away.
The armed man walked back and allegedly yelled something at the caller. He then ran towards a woman, who threw a key at him. The armed man then picked up the key, got into a black car, and drove off.
That black vehicle was pursued and eventually pulled over at Third Street and S. Ashland Avenue. The passenger in the front seat was identified as Reinaldo Santiago-Rodriguez. He was taken into custody at that point.
A written statement provided to police by the female victim says that she was at her apartment that afternoon. She and her boyfriend, Reinaldo Santiago-Rodriguez, were arguing about the keys to the apartment.
The victim told Santiago that she took one of the keys and that, “he was yelling at her to give it back.” He then allegedly punched her in the head. She was grabbed and restrained as he tried getting the key from her.
The complaint states that during the struggle, Santiago, “bit her in the hand.” She was able to break free and leave the apartment. Santiago allegedly, “grabbed a machete and began chasing her with it.”
The victim got to the area of 9th Street and Oakland Avenue, only to see Santiago come after her with a, “kitchen knife that was approximately 6 inches long.” She said he was, “thrusting it at her.” At that point, she says someone stopped and called the police.
Officers were informed that the machete was, “in the trunk of a red vehicle in a parking lot.” After the cops obtained consent to search that red vehicle, they recovered, “a large, sheathed machete.” Santiago allegedly had the keys to this vehicle in his possession.
Also interviewed was the driver of the black vehicle, who confirmed to officers that Santiago got into a physical altercation with his girlfriend. He also, “saw Reinaldo with a knife in the front yard chasing,” her. The complaint states that the driver also claimed that another person on scene had, “punched Reinaldo in the face and that is why Reinaldo grabbed a knife.”
Reinaldo Santiago-Rodriguez is currently in the Brown County Jail on a $10,000 bond. If convicted on all counts, Santiago-Rodriguez faces more than 19 years in prison.
