Bloomfield man headed to court on battery charge

Eric J. Townsend, 23, of Bloomfield, is scheduled to appear at an initial hearing in Greene Superior Court Friday morning on the charge of battery resulting in bodily injury.

Townsend was arrested last Friday by Greene County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Deckard after he and Deputy Jeremy Inman responded to the Lester St. Apartments in Bloomfield on the report of a fight in progress.

The preliminary charge was filed against him on Tuesday along with a probable cause affidavit written by Deputy Inman.

Inman wrote that when the officers arrived on the scene, they noticed a grill had been turned over in front of an apartment and a female's wallet was lying beside a car. They were met by Townsend who told them the problem had been taken care of and that everybody had left.

However, while Inman was speaking with Townsend at the door to the apartment, Inman noticed a large pile of hair which appeared to have been pulled out of a female person. He asked to check inside for any injured people.

Townsend agreed an officer could come in and then told them a woman (relative) was in the house but she was in bed. She wasn't in bed. Then he said she must have gone into the shower. She wasn't there either. Inman happened to notice a pair of feet off to the side of a bed. The feet belonged to a woman wrapped up in a blanket and Inman asked her to stand.

Inman wrote that she was slow to get up and then laid back down with the cover still over her head. When she removed the cover from her head, the officer saw a large spot on her forehead that was swollen and had a contusion in the middle of the swelling. He also noticed some charcoal dust or dirt on her shirt.

According to the affidavit, the woman had been in the house in order to care for four children while their mother was in jail. They ranged in age from 18 months up to seven years old. Her boyfriend had also been there. She said when she got into a verbal argument with her boyfriend, Townsend got in between them and started to shove them. The affidavit says she stated that "Eric just freaked out and head-butted her and shoved her down."

Her boyfriend, who was still on parole, took off running.

Townsend was booked in to the Greene County Jail where bond was set at $1,000. He posted bond and was released later the same day.