What started as a happy celebration of a young boy’s birthday degenerated into a sequence of calls to police, an alleged assault and the injury of an infant child. On the evening of Nov. 25, police were called to a verbal altercation at the Best Western motel, but left when it appeared the conflict was under control. At about 9 p.m., however, they were called back by a guest in an adjoining room who was concerned at the level of yelling and screaming and the sound of a baby crying.
When police arrived a woman answered the door, breathing heavily and with bleeding hands. She told police her boyfriend of five years, and the father of her children, had been screaming obscenities at her, that he pushed her to the floor, shoved his hand in her pants, where upon she bit his fingers.
During part of the struggle, the couple’s infant son ended up in the grasp of his father and police found scratch marks on the infant’s chest, allegedly inflicted while he held the child and assaulted the mother.
The 29-year-old father, a resident of Redwood Valley, was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, misdemeanor damaging connecting lines when he pulled the telephone cord out of the wall and misdemeanor child endangerment. He was booked into the county jail.
The children’s mother, a resident of Ukiah, asked for and received an emergency protective order against the father.
In other incidents reported to Valley law enforcement:
Saturday, Nov. 2:
8:37 a.m. – Enemy attack? A resident in the 100 block of Melody Lane reported that two vehicles parked in the driveway had been vandalized overnight. Both a 2005 Honda and a 2002 Chevy had been keyed, the interiors were cut up and all body surfaces marred. The victim said she didn’t know who would do something like that, but said her husband has some enemies.
Sunday, Nov. 3:
6:10 p.m. – Seven felonies and a misdemeanor. Sheriff’s deputies caught up with a wanted parolee after he had eluded them following a high-speed chase on Oct. 30. Deputies were originally sent to a residence in the 19200 block of Arnold Drive in response to a domestic disturbance. The victim told deputies that Jason Smith, 43, of El Verano, had punched her in the face and threatened to kill her. Deputies were able to locate and pursue Smith on Arnold Drive, with speeds topping 100 miles an hour, before he crashed his car, bailed out and faded into the darkness.
Smith and the victim had been married for six years and had a record of domestic incidents in 2009 and 2011.
On Nov. 3., deputies went back to the residence to try to locate Smith. When they knocked on the door, a male voice answered, but the man didn’t open the door. Deputies asked if Smith was there and the victim said he wasn’t, but sounded nervous and evasive while talking with deputies, and tried to block their entry.
The deputies were finally able to get inside the home and found Smith in a back bedroom, where he was arrested on felony charges of domestic violence, false imprisonment, making terrorist threats, evading arrest with wanton disregard, cruelty to a child, threatening an executive officer, a parole hold and a misdemeanor charge of damaging a wireless device. He was booked into county jail.
8:56 p.m. – The down side of getting high. Deputies were sent to a residence in the 600 block of Baines Avenue after a 9-1-1 hang up. The caller told 9-1-1 operators that he was drifting in and out of consciousness. When deputies arrived, they found a 36-year-old Springs resident sweating and unable to keep his eyes open. The man somehow managed to tell deputies that he was waiting for a woman and they were going to share some heroin, but he had decided to use it himself. The man was arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance and four probation violations.
Monday, Nov. 4:
6:32 p.m. – It wasn’t a cellphone and the drugs aren’t mine. While on patrol in the 18600 block of Sonoma Highway, Sheriff’s deputies made a traffic stop after they saw the driver talking on a cellphone. The driver nevertheless denied he was talking on a cellphone and said he had a flashlight in his hand. Because the driver was on probation with search and seizure terms, the deputies searched the car and found a glass pipe under the driver’s seat, but both the driver and passenger denied it was theirs. The deputies also discovered a syringe with a clear substance in it. The driver, a 32-year-old Sonoma resident, was charged with a probation violation and possession of drug paraphernalia. The passenger, Adrienne Garrison, 30, of Sonoma, was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Both were taken to county jail.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: