State trooper relieved of duty after alleged domestic incident

Crime

Authorities allege Dylan Knox assaulted and threatened the mother of his child during an argument at their shared home in Fitchburg.

A Massachusetts State Police trooper is facing an internal affairs investigation after he allegedly strangled a woman he was dating and threatened to kill her, according to court records and State Police.

The agency relieved Trooper Dylan Knox, 31, of duty immediately following his arrest in connection with the Aug. 15 incident in Fitchburg, State Police spokesperson Timothy McGuirk confirmed.

“Relieving a person of duty strips them of all police authority and they cannot function or present themselves as a trooper,” McGuirk explained. The state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission also suspended Knox’s law enforcement certification last week, barring him from police work for the time being.

Authorities allege Knox assaulted and threatened the mother of his child during an argument at their shared home in Fitchburg. Knox is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon; strangulation; witness intimidation; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; and assault and battery on a family or household member.

“Dylan Knox steadfastly denies these allegations. He has dutifully and faithfully served his community for the past 5 years,” his lawyer, Benjamin Megrian, said in a statement on his behalf. “Dylan looks forward to putting this case behind him and continuing to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth.”

Knox pleaded not guilty during his Aug. 16 arraignment, and a judge set bail at $500 cash or $5,000 surety bond, with orders to stay away from and have no contact with the alleged victim, surrender any firearms, and submit to GPS monitoring, among other conditions.

He is accused of pushing the woman against a wall and strangling her, which “caused her to be unable to breathe for a period of time and experience difficulty breathing and hyperventilating afterward,” according to a statement of facts filed in Fitchburg District Court. The woman reportedly told police Knox made four attempts to strangle her, each lasting about 30 seconds.

Knox also threatened to kill the woman, both with his firearms and with a knife he had grabbed from the kitchen, according to the court document. When the woman tried to activate the “Emergency SOS” feature on her iPhone to call 911, Knox allegedly stopped her and took the phone away.

At prosecutors’ request, Judge Whitney J. Brown impounded a Fitchburg Police Department report and photographs related to the incident, as they “contain privileged information about the Defendant’s criminal record,” according to court records.

Knox, who is assigned to State Police Troop B in Western Massachusetts, is due back in court Oct. 8.