Alva Review-Courier -

A Helena man has been charged with domestic abuse after Cherokee police were provided information on incidents from July 23, 2017, to Sept. 11, 2020.

According to court records, on Sept. 22 at approximately 10:25 p.m. Cherokee Police Chief Ryan McNeil and Officer Phillips conducted an interview with Malarie Cline at the request of the Alfalfa County District Attorney’s Office. During the interview, Cline said she and Landon Todd Pettus began a relationship in September 2016. She said Pettus began abusing her mentally and physically in July of 2017, and she ended the relationship in September of 2018. She said she and Pettus got back together in either December 2019 or January 2020, and the relationship continued until Sept. 11, 2020.

Online court records show Pettus was charged with a misdemeanor for domestic abuse – assault and battery on Sept. 11. In addition, Cline filed for an emergency protective order against Pettus on that date.

During the Sept. 22 interview Cline described numerous incidents of domestic violence. She said on July 23, 2017, she and Pettus were in the home of his grandmother in Helena. During an argument, Pettus pushed her down, pinned her to the ground and was screaming in her face. She called the police but did not make a report because the grandmother asked her not to.

In September 2018, Cline said she and Pettus were at a residence in Enid when they got into a verbal altercation, during which Pettus picked her up, threw her over his shoulders, walked to the front door and threw her onto the lawn.

On March 23, 2019, Cline stated she and Pettus were arguing at her residence in Cherokee when he took her phone from her hands and crushed it before throwing the phone and striking her in the head. Cline said she had a bleeding wound to her head and told Pettus she needed to go to the hospital but he told her she could not do so. After Pettus left the house, she went to Integris Bass Hospital in Enid where she was treated for a laceration to her scalp. She told the ER staff what had occurred. Later that day when they were walking their dogs, Officer Phillips approached to question them about the incident. Cline said Pettus saw the officer approaching and gave her a story to tell him. Cline said she denied the incident was domestic related at the time.

On July 27, 2019, Cline said she was in a vehicle with Pettus and his son traveling back to Cherokee when they got into an argument. Cline alleges Pettus got angry and slammed her face into the console of the vehicle. As a result her nose began bleeding and she got a fat lip.

Cline said on Dec. 28, 2019 she was traveling back to Cherokee in her vehicle with Pettus when they got into a disagreement. Cline stated Pettus began striking her in the face with the palm of his hand and pushed her face into the driver’s side door window while she was driving. Cline said she received a black eye and a fat lip from that incident.

Cline said she took pictures of the injuries from the incidents on July 27, 2019 and Dec. 28, 2019, which she sent to a friend and then deleted from her phone so Pettus wouldn’t find them. Copies were provided to the District Attorney’s Office.

In addition Cline stated Pettus has punched holes into a door in the residence, Pettus pushed her into a garage wall which caused a hole, and on one occasion she locked herself in the bathroom with Pettus breaking through the bathroom door to get to her. She provided pictures of some of the damage.

Later after the interview concluded, Cline provided additional information on some other incidents.

Landon Todd Pettus, 32, of Helena, has been charged with domestic abuse – prior pattern of physical abuse. This crime is punishable by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term of not more than ten years or by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by both such fine and imprisonment.