Valentina Tapia

An apparent weekend argument over a television remote control led to a woman threatening her boyfriend at their Butler home.

But Valentina R. Tapia, 32, didn’t stab anyone. Instead, Butler police said, she attacked a dresser with the knife.

Officers arrested Tapia after the early Saturday morning altercation at an apartment in the 100 block of South Main Street. She is in the Butler County Prison.

Police just after 3 a.m. were called to the apartment for a domestic dispute. The caller, believed to be Tapia, was angry that the suspected victim “would not give her the television remote,” according to court documents.

Tapia was screaming “at the top of her lungs” when officers got there, police said. She also appeared “visibly intoxicated.”

Police separated Tapia and her boyfriend, Christopher Barnes, who told officers of her “history of heavy drinking and being belligerent,” documents said.

Barnes recounted that Tapia staggered into his room, holding a knife, and told him, “I could stab you if I really wanted to,” according to a police affidavit.

He said Tapia started stabbing his dresser.

“Barnes believed that he was going to be stabbed next and was in fear of his life,” police said.

Officers found “puncture markings” on the dresser. The knife, which they found under Tapia’s pillow, had wood dust, apparently from the dresser, on the blade.

District Judge Sue Haggerty arraigned Tapia, the mother of three children, on misdemeanor charges of terroristic threats and simple assault. She was placed in the prison on $5,000 bail following arraignment.