OCEAN CITY – A Salisbury woman arrested last October on first-degree assault charges after allegedly throwing a knife at her boyfriend during a domestic incident at a midtown hotel pleaded guilty last week to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to one year in jail, all of which was then suspended.
Around 9 p.m. last Oct. 2, Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officers responded to a hotel on 37th Street for a reported domestic incident in progress. OCPD officers met with two individuals who called in the complaint. The witnesses said the incident was ongoing in a room on the second floor and that they heard a male voice yelling, “the knife is broken,” and “stop trying to stab me,” according to police reports.
OCPD officers went to the room in question and separated the male victim and a female suspect identified as Natalie Wade, 42, of Salisbury, for questioning. Wade reportedly told police the couple had an argument because the male victim told her she had been drinking too much alcohol. Wade told police the argument escalated, and she slapped the male in the face, but that he never touched her during the altercation.
During the officer’s interview with Wade in the hotel room, he observed a kitchen knife on the floor. OCPD officers asked Wade if any objects were thrown during the altercation, and she told police she threw a knife at the victim, but it hit the floor and broke. When asked to clarify her statement, Wade told officers she threw a fork, and not a knife, at the male victim.
OCPD officers interviewed the male victim, who advised the couple had gotten into an argument because of her level of intoxication, according to police reports. The couple had reportedly been drinking at the hotel bar, and when the male victim told Wade it was time to go back to the room, she reportedly became upset because she wanted to drink more, according to police reports.
The male victim reportedly told police when the argument continued, he poured a bottle of alcohol down a drain. That only incensed Wade more and she began slapping the male victim, according to police reports. When the male victim pushed Wade onto a bed and told her to go to sleep, she retrieved a steak knife from the kitchen and threw it at the victim, according to police reports. The victim reportedly told police the knife missed him and fell on the ground and broke.
When pressed again for her version, Wade reportedly told police it was a fork she threw at the victim and not a knife. Wade was arrested and charged with first-and second-degree assault. Last week, she pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to one year, which was then suspended. She was placed on supervised probation for one year.
