The girlfriend of Live Oak police Sgt. Jose Alfredo Moreno disputed police officials’ accounts of an August 2008 altercation that led to Moreno’s firing during a reinstatement hearing at police headquarters Tuesday.

Moreno was terminated from LOPD last September after an off-duty altercation with the woman, Erica Elliott, also an LOPD employee. According to an internal LOPD investigation, Moreno and Elliott had a verbal confrontation that turned physical at Elliott’s home between Aug. 16 and 17, 2008 from about 11:45 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. The report alleges that Moreno “pushed” Elliott in the bathroom and at one point had her in a “headlock.” During the incident Elliott tried to call for help but Moreno prevented her from doing so, the report states. She later tried to run from Moreno but he pulled her back, according to the report.

LOPD Captain Joe Daly testified Tuesday that Elliott was “physically distraught” and “shaken” after the incident.

“When I got there Erica was crying profusely,” Chief Buddy Williams said, adding her hair was “frazzled.”

Daly testified that Moreno had taken Elliott’s cell phone and damaged it, and when she tried to use Moreno’s police radio to call for help he ripped it out of the car. Both Williams and Daly testified that Elliott told them Moreno tried to choke her with the radio cord.

At the hearing, Elliott denied telling Williams or Daly that Moreno tried to choke her with the radio cord.

Moreno also testified he did not try to choke Elliott with the radio cord. He said was attempting to take the cord out of her hand when he lost his grip and fell.

Rob Larkin, the city’s labor law attorney, said during opening statements that Elliott was “very distraught” and “hysterical” when she called Williams after Moreno left her home that night.

Elliott testified Tuesday that she was not seeking help when she called Williams, but rather wanted Williams to give Moreno a ride home, as he had been drinking.

“I wasn’t afraid he was going to hurt me,” she said.

Elliott said the altercation occurred because she provoked Moreno by trying to bite him, shove him and call him names.

Moreno testified that Elliott hid his keys because she didn’t want him to drive. Moreno said he took Elliott’s cell phone to get his keys back.

“I just wanted my car keys to go home,” he said.

He said that he placed his hands on Elliott’s shoulders in order to move her out of the way to get out of the bathroom. The floor was slippery and she slipped and fell, he said.

“I never pushed her with my hands and arms,” he testified.

Elliott said there were inaccuracies in investigative reports of the incident because of facts that she omitted during interviews.

“My focus was on Mr. Moreno, not my actions,” she said.

“There was no indication of domestic violence,” Moreno’s attorney, Rick Schutte, said during his opening statement.

Schutte described the incident as a “normal husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend spat.”

An LOPD investigation determined that Moreno violated city policy and he was terminated Sept. 22, 2008. Moreno is not drawing a salary from the city, but remains an LOPD employee pending completion of his appeal, Williams said.

An investigation by the state attorney’s office was also conducted and Moreno was given the opportunity to participate in a pre-trial intervention program rather than face criminal charges.

Retired Circuit Judge Tom Kennon, who served as the hearing officer for the proceedings, will issue a written recommendation to the city council, which will decide whether Moreno will resume employment with LOPD.