A teen put on an inflatable dinosaur costume. Then he battered his girlfriend, cops say

He wanted to go to a Halloween party. He was already dressed for it, in an inflatable dinosaur costume.

She wanted to go with him to a friend’s house to watch a movie instead, on Saturday night.

Port St. Lucie teen Patrick John Gallway, 19, expressed his displeasure by throwing his cellphone onto a couch, which broke its case and Bluetooth connection, according to a Port St. Lucie police report.

Gallway, police said, then threw his girlfriend to the floor, where he got on top of her, held her down by her neck with his left hand, and made swinging motions with his right hand as if to hit her “toward her facial area,” the report read.

After he let her go he demanded that she reimburse him for the damage to his phone’s case and Bluetooth. According to the report, the pair went to a TD Bank’s ATM in separate cars. She withdrew $20, handed it to Gallway, and drove off to the friend’s house, alone.

There, friends urged her to call the police. Though she did, she initially told police she didn’t want him arrested but the officer noticed she was being texted frequently by Gallway while she was being interviewed by an officer, the report said.

According to the report, the officer suggested she text him back and “ask him why he had hit her.” The report said he responded “with profanities directed toward her” and that “she was telling everyone what had happened and it was going to get him in trouble with the police.”

His costume helped the Port St. Lucie Police Department make an arrest for misdemeanor battery by force or strike. When Gallway pulled up to his house around 2:45 a.m. Sunday officers saw the inflatable dinosaur costume in the front passenger seat, The Smoking Gun reported.

Gallway was released from St. Lucie County Jail Sunday afternoon.

This story was originally published October 30, 2018 at 3:21 PM.