Upper Burrell police arrest man after girlfriend tells them beating required removal of spleen

Upper Burrell police filed felony charges against a man after his girlfriend told them she needed surgery to remove her spleen after he stomped on her during an argument.

Marcus Lamont Obey, 41, of the 400 block of 11th Street in New Kensington, was charged with felony counts of aggravated assault and strangulation along with a count of simple assault, according to court records.

He was released from the Westmoreland County jail after a New Kensington bail agency posted a $25,000 bond. Obey faces a preliminary hearing on June 21 before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec.

Police arrested Obey after the woman’s mother reported on May 3 that her daughter was in the intensive care unit at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh recovering from surgery to remove her spleen as a result of the beating by Obey, according to a criminal complaint.

The woman said Obey assaulted her daughter during an argument in the parking lot of Mason’s Bar on Washington Boulevard on April 29.

The woman said she noticed that her daughter was “moving awkwardly” when she arrived home from the bar at about 1 a.m., but thought it was because of the alcohol she consumed, the complaint said.

The woman said her daughter woke up at about 8 a.m. the following day and was unable to get out of bed because of severe back pain, the complaint said.

The woman told her parents that she injured her back when she fell the previous night.

An ambulance was called to take the woman to UPMC St. Margaret hospital near Aspinwall, the complaint said.

The woman was transferred to UPMC Presbyterian hospital for emergency surgery to remove her spleen after a scan revealed that it was damaged and that she was suffering from internal bleeding, the complaint said.

Police interviewed the woman by telephone while she was in the intensive care unit recovering. She told them Obey and her began arguing while they were in the bar.

She said he waited until they got to the parking lot to assault her “because there would be no witnesses,” the complaint said.

The woman accused Obey of hitting her in the face and head, choking her and then kicking her after knocking her to the ground.

She told police that while she was on the ground, Obey stomped on her abdomen, according to the complaint.