A Carbondale man punched his girlfriend in the face while their 2-month-old child was sitting on her lap on the bed, according to a criminal complaint.
Gabriel Montanez, of 9 Garfield Avenue, then moved his infant daughter to another area of the bed and hit the child’s mother in the face again, police said.
Montanez, 38, faces a felony charge of child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.
According to the criminal complaint, at about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, Carbondale police officers responded to the residence for the report of a domestic altercation.
Responding officers spoke with Matthew Montanez, with told them he heard his brother Gabriel yelling and then hitting Jade Garcia.
Gabriel Montanez then barged into his brother’s room, where Matthew Montanez was holding a small Taser. Gabriel Montanez grabbed the Taser from his brother’s hand and threw it at him, hitting him in the face with such force that the Taser broke, police said.
Officers spoke with Gabriel Montanez, who admitted throwing the Taser at his brother but only after it was used to stun him.
Garcia said Gabriel Montanez came home from the store and was upset because she didn’t wake up.
He got increasingly irate when he went into the bathroom and found a mess. When he asked Garcia what happened, she said the children did it.
As Garcia was sitting on the bed with the couple’s 2-month-old daughter, Montanez punched her in the face. He then took the infant from her arms, placed her on another area of the bed and slapped Garcia, according to the complaint.
Officers noted Garcia’s right eye was bloodshot and swollen, with a cut on her eyelid.
Montanez remains at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. on July 29 before District Judge Kipp Adcock.