Walpole Man Arrested for Allegedly Assaulting Girlfriend, Punching Dog in Face

Walpole Police arrested a Maple Street man on multiple charges stemming from a domestic incident Sunday that resulted in the man allegedly pushing his girlfriend, grappling with the woman for a 9-month-old baby boy and punching a dog repeatedly in the face during a drunken argument, police said.

Christopher R. DeChellis, 36, of Maple Street, was arrested after the alleged altercation, police said.

“He had returned home in [an intoxicated] condition and that appears to be what fueled the initial verbal argument and then that verbal argument escalated to the point where he grabbed the baby from the victim. There was somewhat of a struggle there,” Walpole Deputy Police Chief John Carmichael said.

“He began to use some vulgar language towards his girlfriend. Ended up pushing her, knocking her to the ground,” said Carmichael. “The physical part continued to progress. He was grabbing onto her continuously and at one point he ended up grabbing her by the neck.”

During the altercation the dog in the house "turned on DeChellis," according to police, in order to protect the victim and the baby and may have saved them from further harm.

"It’s almost like the dog was trying to protect her and then he began to just start punching the dog in the face repeatedly,” Carmichael said. “As he focused his attention on the dog the victim was able to escape from the house and get to a neighbor’s house."

Both the woman and the baby were uninjured, police said.

The dog, however, was evaluated by the animal control officer for injuries.

“The dog was definitely unsteady on its feet. It definitely showed some signs of being abused,” said Carmichael.

DeChellis was charged with domestic assault and battery, animal cruelty and child endangerment.