PASADENA, Texas – A former Pasadena police officer has been arrested and charged after authorities say he “engaged in acts of abuse toward members of his immediate family.”
McKay Christensen was charged in connection with the abuse on Thursday and he voluntarily turned himself in on Friday, officials say.
The department received information about the alleged abuse on June 14 and the Pasadena Police Department’s Special Investigations Division launched a criminal and internal investigation in conjunction with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the Children’s Assessment Center in Houston, officials say.
Christensen was charged with assault – family violence by choking/impeding breath, which is a third-degree felony, police said. After an arrest warrant was issued, Christensen resigned from the force and he was relieved of his duties immediately, police said.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office said Christensen’s wife, Stacy Rodd, was arrested and charged with injury to a child under 15 earlier this year in connection with the abuse.
According to charging documents, the victim told officials that Rodd would grab her by the hair and jerk her around or beat her with a belt.
In one incident, the victim said Rodd got upset because she didn’t do the laundry correctly, so Rodd “grabbed her by the hair, pulled her to the floor and then pulled her head into the wall and washer,” according to court documents.
The victim also said Rodd would spank her with a belt hard enough to leave bruises.
On one occasion the victim said Rodd was hitting her on the back of the legs so hard that she fell and covered her legs, court documents said. Rodd then started hitting the victim on the upper body, so she got up and ran away. Rodd then made “her get on the ground and began hitting her with the belt on her head and neck.,” according to the documents.
In March, the victim and her siblings went to a family member’s home and the family member noticed the daughter had a 1-inch black mark under her eye, according to an affidavit filed in court.
The investigation was launched about a month later and Rodd and Christensen were both charged in connection with the alleged abuse, authorities said.
In a video sent to KPRC 2, Christensen’s attorney said there are two sides to every story.
According to the Harris County DA’s office, Rodd has a previous child abuse charge.
Christensen had been with the Pasadena Police Department since November 2003, police said.