PORTAGE, Ind. — An Illinois police officer beat his wife so badly his children were scared she was dead, said Portage police.

Portage Police Sgt. Troy Williams told the Times of Northwest Indiana that he had to promise the children their mother was alive and doing okay, but he needed them to stay in the car.

Dino Pavoni, a Crestwood police officer from Midlothian, Illinois, was arrested for multiple battery charges, including domestic battery, strangulation and interfering with reporting a crime.

Around 3 a.m. on Sunday police were called to a trailer in the Lakeshore Camp Resort.

When Williams arrived a boy was standing in the rain crying. He took him to the trailer, and he found a girl and another child crying. He was told their mom was lying on the floor of the camper, and their dad was inside.

The children were taken to safety and Pavoni left the trailer with his hands up. His wife was sitting on the floor.

The woman said she couldn’t put away the awning on the trailer and woke Pavoni up for help and he became angry.

A video, recorded by one of the children, shows Pavoni arguing with his wife, and flipping over a picnic table. He goes back into the trailer and pushes one of the children aside and closes the door on the girl’s arm.

Pavoni is also seen holding a holstered handgun while yelling at his wife, and a child asks him to stop and that he’s drunk.

He then hits his wife in the head and holds her up by her neck against the wall. He slams her to the ground where she’s seen gasping for air.

Charging documents say the woman lost consciousness, and Pavoni told police she had a seizure, and he checked to make sure she was breathing before returning to his bedroom.

Pavoni is also accused of throwing his wife’s phone when she tried to call police. She told police her three children werethere during the incident and she asked them to call 911, which they did.

Pavoni accused his wife of attacking him, and said he didn’t hit her until police told him they had seen the video. He then said he no longer wanted to talk to police.

The sheriff’s department says Pavoni has left the Porter County Jail on a $5,000 bond.