Former Highway Patrol cop to face trial in simple-assault case

THE RELATIONSHIP between former Philly Police Officer Michael Alice and Officer Shannon Montague no doubt had its highs and lows.

In early July, Alice, a 12-year veteran most recently assigned to the elite Highway Patrol unit, was charged with simple assault and related offenses, accused of hurting Montague in the South Philly home they shared.

He was fired from the police force, a job he loved.

Yesterday, Alice's case was held for trial on three of five misdemeanor charges after a preliminary hearing before Municipal Judge James DeLeon.

Montague, 32, a cop in North Philly's 24th District, testified against her ex-boyfriend.

Dressed in red pants and a black-and-white blazer, she said that on May 24, they had been out with friends and had gotten into an argument, and when they returned to their home, on 4th Street near Tasker, that night, "Michael said he no longer wanted to be in a relationship."

They had been living together for about a month and a half and had been dating since July 2014.

She contended that when she tried to leave the house, Alice, 42, wouldn't let her. She described running back and forth between the front and back doors.

"He pushed me," she testified. "He said, 'You're not going to leave the house.' "

While at the back door, she testified, Alice "took me by my arms and I fell down," hitting the steps that lead upstairs.

During the struggle, she said, she hit him twice.

She said she eventually got out to the back yard and was trying to yell over their fence for someone to call 9-1-1. She said he put his arms around her and brought her back into the house, but she "went deadweight" so he would drop her. She then ran out the front door. Police then showed up and talked with both of them.

The next day, she said, she got a protection-from-abuse order, which forced him from their house and ordered him not to have any contact with her.

During cross-examination by defense attorney Jack McMahon, Montague admitted she had been drinking alcohol starting about 2:30 p.m. May 24 when she and Alice were hanging out with friends at bar-restaurants.

Asked by McMahon if she was bothered that Alice's previous girlfriend was African-American, Montague said "no."

Alice, in an interview with the Daily News after the hearing, contended his arrest was "racially motivated." Alice and Montague are white. Whenever Montague drank, she brought up her disgust of his having dated a black woman, who also happens to be a cop, Alice contended.

He contends they were both "totally drunk" May 24. He said he didn't tell her he wanted to end their relationship, but got tired of her issues with his past girlfriend.

He said he stood at the doors and blocked her from leaving the house because he didn't want her to drive drunk, but never pushed her. "Never one time did I ever throw her down on the floor. Never did I pin her down," Alice said.

He contends when she ran to the back yard and climbed onto a chair, the chair began to dip, and that's when he "picked her up" and carried her into the house.

Montague, during questioning by McMahon, admitted that in August, she stayed in a hotel with Alice and had sex with him the night before she went to Family Court to vacate the protection-from-abuse order against him.

Alice, in the interview, contended the two of them had spent a few nights together and said they went to Family Court together.

He also said that she had reached out to him on July 24, and that they spent that weekend and the following Monday together in Sea Isle City on the Jersey Shore.

Montague could not be reached after the hearing. A police spokeswoman said Montague would not be available to speak because of the ongoing investigation.

Assistant District Attorney Vilma Cubias said, "We believe in this case." She said she could not comment on what Alice said after the hearing.

Alice also contended that Montague's father, Robert Montague, a former Philly police lieutenant, played a role in his arrest. The father, reached by phone, said he did not. He also said, "My daughter is not a racist."