A Pittsburgh police officer was placed on administrative leave after he allegedly pushed his wife during a late-night domestic dispute over the weekend outside his Dormont home, authorities said Wednesday.
But Officer Adam Thomas Germeyer’s attorney maintains her client is innocent — and stressed that women at the scene that night “were highly intoxicated.”
Police officials said Germeyer is on paid leave until further notice.
Dormont police were dispatched around 12:45 a.m. Sunday to the home of Germeyer, 34, according to a criminal complaint.
Germeyer’s wife and her female friend went to the home after a night out to pick up Germeyer’s children, the complaint said.
The city officer “has not been the same lately,” his wife told Dormont police, according to the complaint.
An argument about child custody ensued while the wife’s friend was putting one of the couple’s children in a car seat, the complaint said.
Police said Germeyer pushed the friend out of the house. Germeyer’s wife tried to intervene — unsuccessfully.
Germeyer then pushed his wife, “causing her to fall and hit her chin,” the complaint said. She suffered “a small laceration on her chin” but declined medical treatment.
Germeyer “unequivocally denies these accusations against him,” said attorney Nicole Nino, who represents the officer. “Both women were highly intoxicated.”
Germeyer told police Sunday that “he was not going to let (his wife’s friend) take his children,” the complaint said. He said he did not want the children to get into the car because his wife and the friend “had been drinking.”
Police said the friend told them she also fell during the incident. She was not injured.
Dormont police did not elaborate in the complaint. An officer contacted Wednesday declined comment.
Police charged Germeyer early Sunday with one count of simple assault.
Germeyer had been caring the day before for his two young children, Nino told TribLive.
“We look forward to putting his reputation back to where it belongs,” Nino said Wednesday.
Officers took Germeyer on Sunday to the Allegheny County Jail where he was arraigned and released on nonmonetary bail, court records show.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 10.
Germeyer joined the city police force on Aug. 20, 2018, city records show.
