HPD officer accused of assaulting pregnant girlfriend

HOUSTON – A Houston police officer is accused of assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, according to court documents.

Jeramiah Joseph Lapaglia, 26, is charged with misdemeanor assault of a family member. 

Harris County sheriff’s deputies were called to a disturbance in the 21000 block of Aldine Westfield Road on Nov. 4, and said they found Lapaglia’s girlfriend crying and her shirt torn.

The woman told the deputies Lapaglia had assaulted her and that she had pain in her stomach from the assault, according to court documents. 

Deputies said she claims she had been in a dating relationship with Lapaglia for six months and that she is five months pregnant.

The woman told deputies that she recently moved back in with Lapaglia and that he took her cellphone and was looking at her messages and discovered that she had been texting her ex-husband, records indicate.

Court documents state she claimed Lapaglia threw her cellphone and then began throwing her clothes, telling her he wanted her to move out of his apartment. When she said she tried to leave, he blocked her way, and when she tried to force her way out of the building, she said he picked her up from behind, put his arms around her stomach and carried her back inside the apartment, according to investigators cited in the report.

The woman claims she tried to leave again and he tried to pick her up again, but she slapped him, records show. She told investigators Lapaglia picked her up and threw her to the ground. She said she landed painfully on her back and that Lapaglia choked her, saying to her, “You don’t hit me,” according to court documents.

Lapaglia, an ex-Marine, denied the woman’s allegations. He claims she assaulted him by slapping him and scratching his neck, records show. He said he was off-duty at the time of the incident.

Lapaglia is currently employed with the Houston Police Department.