The ex-girlfriend of a married Pennsylvania state trooper who allegedly fraudulently committed her to a mental health facility has spoken out about the ordeal.
"I was not expecting to be a political football. I just want to clear my name," Michelle Perfanov, 37, told the New York Post.
Perfanov was seen in video published by the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office wrestling with her ex-boyfriend, Trooper Ronald Davis, as he aggressively tries to detain her before other officers arrive on the scene.
Davis was arrested last week and is facing charges of felony strangulation, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and official oppression. He is accused of launching a campaign last month to get his ex committed to a mental health facility, including by contacting other state troopers and claiming the woman had mental health issues, according to the DA's office.
STATE TROOPER ABUSED POWER AFTER FORCING EX-GIRLFRIEND INTO MENTAL HOSPITAL: DA
Perfanov told the New York Post that the video of Davis detaining her "speaks for itself" and declined to speak more on the case as litigation is pending.
"It’s just unfortunate that it had to get to that point," she added. "I just don’t want everybody’s family and everybody’s stuff dragged into this."
Davis reportedly traveled to detain the woman at a local state forest last month after other officers failed to locate her. He was off-duty at the time and was not acting in his official capacity as a police officer. Other cops are seen arriving on the scene toward the end of the video.
Perfanov spent five days at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill despite not showing signs of suicidal thoughts during that time, according to prosecutors. She was released on Aug. 26 and was then interviewed by police on the matter.
"You’re insane," she is heard saying in the video. "You’re absolutely insane … and then you paint me to look insane."
Investigators found texts between the former couple, which did discuss suicide but in a hypothetical context, leading police to believe she was improperly committed to the mental health facility.
"I think I’m going to drive off a cliff," Perfanov wrote in one text to Davis, according to the New York Post. "If this is where I’m supposed to die then so be it."
"My mental health doesn’t matter I’m a useless old stupid uneducated piece of s--t," she wrote in another, adding she was going to "go out in style," according to the Post.
Prosecutors said that Davis tried to use the texts as proof that Perfanov needed mental health assistance but argued the texts did not show the full context of the matter.
"While Trooper Davis provided text messages from [the victim]… and purported them to be suicidal, he failed to provide the full context of those messages," the affidavit alleged. "In fact, the text messages were the culmination of a larger, domestic dispute between he and the victim. Taken in context, the texts revealed her frustration with Trooper Davis and his controlling behavior… not a true desire to harm herself."
Davis, who is married with a family, is currently in jail.
"This is a bigger-picture issue for a lot of people," Perfanov told the New York Post. "This has been going on since the dawn of time."
"Most people don’t trust the cops. And it’s funny — me dating a cop," she said without elaborating.
