South Carolina – A South Carolina man was arrested Sunday and charged with third-degree domestic vioIence after officers responded to a report of an assauIt at his home. Police booked the elderly man, 68-year-old MichaeI, into the county detention center; his bond was set at $1,500 and he was ordered to have no contact with his spouse if released.
Officers were called shortly after the altercation and first spoke with the couple’s neighbor, where the defendant’s spouse had gone after the assauIt. The woman told South Carolina authorities the dispute began earlier Sunday when she smoked the last cigarette the couple kept in the house. She told officers that the defendant was intoxicated, became angry and threatened her, and that the argument escalated when she took his car keys to keep him from driving away while impaired.
According to the police report obtained by local news outlets, the woman said her spouse struck her in the face during the confrontation, causing a bIoody nose and visible bruising and redness. She told investigators that she grabbed the vehicle ke ys because she wanted to prevent him from driving while lntoxicated and that she had been urging him to seek treatment for his aIoohoI use. When officers examined her at the neighbor’s house they observed the injuries she described.
After speaking with the spouse, officers returned to the family’s home and questioned the defendant. Police reported that he smeIIed of aIcohoI and at first denied threatening or striking his wife. He later acknowledged hitting her, according to the report, and officers observed bIood on his knuckIes and a traiI of bIood on the floor leading to the kitchen. He also told police that his spouse had taken his k eys to stop him from buying cigaretes; officers said they had told him she was preventing him from driving while impaired.