Police: Man threatened, hit woman with gun
SPEARSVILLE — Police say a Brown County man hit and threatened a woman with a gun after throwing a small table at her through a window, causing her to bleed, when she locked him out of a house.
On Sept. 2, Jason Brown, 44, was charged with domestic battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony; domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, a Level 6 felony; pointing a firearm, a Level 6 felony; and interference with the reporting of a crime, a Class A misdemeanor.
On Aug. 23, police were called to a home on Hornettown Road for a report of a domestic disturbance and all dispatch could report was hearing a woman screaming for help. Dispatch reported that there was a man in the home with a gun and that he was threatening and hitting the woman with it. The woman had locked herself in a bathroom and was waiting for police to arrive.
She told dispatch Brown had threatened to kill the police if they tried to stop him and that she knew he had multiple firearms that he’d collected from a safe in the house, the probable cause affidavit states.
When Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholson Briles and Deputy Keith Lawson arrived, they had their rifles with them as they approached the property, the affidavit states.
The deputies tried to make entry into the home, but the door was locked. The victim answered the door and Briles reported that she had a black eye and blood on different areas of her body. He noted the victim was crying and shaking.
Briles reported seeing blood on the kitchen floor and on the counter. The victim said the blood was from a cut on her hand. He noted she also had dry blood on her mouth, the affidavit states.
Officers were unable to find Brown on the property. Since Brown had allegedly made threats toward law enforcement, more units were requested to the area to search for him, including Sheriff Scott Southerland, Nashville Patrolman Billy Bryant, Indiana Conservation officers and deputies from Johnson County.
Deputies walked the victim to the ambulance for a check-out. Photographs were taken of her injuries.
After searching the home for Brown, Briles reported seeing more blood in the back bedroom and on the front door frame. He also reported seeing the gun safe open with firearms missing. It was determined that Brown had left in his truck, according to the affidavit.
The victim said Brown had taken her cellphone and she had to use his, which he left behind, to call 911.
Police had been at the home earlier that day for an unrelated call. The victim said after they left, Brown came to the home yelling about keys and his phone. She said the front door was locked and Brown became increasingly irritated until he threw a small table from the front porch through a bedroom window.
The victim was standing on the other side of the window and when it broke, glass cut her hand. Brown tried to climb through the window, but she tried to push him back, but was unable to keep him from entering the home.
She grabbed a phone and ran back to a bedroom, where Brown began to kick and hit her, she told police. He also allegedly told her he was going to kill her and pointed a gun at her. The victim continued to try to call 911, but he took the phone away and would not let her leave the room, she said.
The victim was then given a ride to a friend’s home to stay the night.
Police found Brown at a home on North Shore Drive with another woman. He was given commands to come out of the house and was arrested. Three firearms were secured at the scene.
Brown told police that the victim had smacked him after police had left the home earlier that day and that he then elbowed her in the face, causing the black eye.
He said he went inside the home afterwards because the door was unlocked to gather his belongings to leave, but the victim threw the table through the window. She then climbed through the window, hurting her hand.
He denied having any guns on him, hitting the victim with one or threatening her, and said that he threw the victim’s phone in a pond because she had done the same to his work phone. He denied hitting the woman while in the home.
When he wasn’t able to find his other phone, he collected guns from the safe for protection and left, he told police.
Briles reported seeing a spot of blood on a gun Brown had with him as he was putting it into evidence.
Stop for expired plates results in drug arrest
A 45-year-old Brown County man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine and paraphernalia after police stopped him for having expired plates and a broken brake light.
On Aug. 18 around 9:20 p.m., Indiana State Police Trooper Matthew Hatchett stopped Jared Robbins along State Road 46 West near Green Valley Road.
Robbins told Hatchett he had purchased the vehicle in April and had not had the plates transferred into his name yet. He said he was aware the brake light was broken. Robbins consented to a vehicle search.
Nashville Police Officer Billy Bryant reported finding a plastic bag corner with around a half-gram of methamphetamine in a tackle box, the affidavit states. Hatchett reported finding two glass smoking pipes with meth residue in the ceiling drop-down storage.
Robbins admitted to Hatchett that he did use meth and later told police he had not used in two days. He also said that the pipes were his, but he told Hatchett that he he did not know the meth and pipes were still in his vehicle.
He was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail. On Aug. 19, Robbins was charged with possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony, and possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor.
Felony charge for failing to serve jail sentence
A Level 6 felony charge has been filed against a 36-year-old Bloomington man after he failed to show up to serve a jail sentence.
On Aug. 3, Capt. Mike Moore with the Brown County Sheriff’s Department was notified by Jail Commander Kenneth Moore that James Bowlen had failed to report to the jail on Aug. 1. Bowlen was ordered to do serve 180 days of a suspended sentence after violating his probation in a Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement case, a probable cause affidavit states.
Bowlen’s wife told Chief Probation Officer Jennifer Acton that she had attempted to bring Bowlen to the jail, but she now did not know where he was and that he may possibly be living in a shelter, the affidavit states.
He was charged with the felony on Aug. 28.
Driver swerves to miss deer, crashes
BECKS GROVE — A 22-year-old Freetown man was treated at the scene of his crash on Aug. 22 after he swerved to miss a deer on Becks Grove Road and hit a tree.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Colton Magner responded to the crash which was reported just before 4 a.m. near the State Road 135 South intersection. Wyatt Smith told police he was driving west on Becks Grove Road when a deer entered the road and he swerved, the accident report states.
Smith went off the north side of the road and hit a tree, which caused heavy right front damage to the vehicle, Magner reported. He wrote that it appeared Smith’s vehicle spun after hitting the tree and that it landed partially in a ditch on the opposite side of the road.
Smith had complaints of back pain and was limping, but he said that prior injuries caused him to limp. He was checked out by EMS and was not taken to a hospital.
Smith was wearing a seat belt. His vehicle was towed.
Man charged with felony for failing to go to jail
A 41-year-old Bloomington man has been charged with a felony after he failed to report to jail to serve time for driving while intoxicated in Brown County.
On Aug. 17, Capt. Mike Moore was notified by jail commander Kenneth Moore that Jerald Sipes had not shown up, according to a probable cause affidaavit. He was ordered to report to the jail Aug. 11 to serve 300 days after he failed to appear for his probation review hearing the same day.
In February, he admitted to violating his probation for an operating a vehicle while intoxicated case and a review hearing was set on Aug. 11 to see if he would serve his suspended sentence if he did not complete additional conditions, according to online court records.
On Aug. 19, Sipes was charged with failure to return to lawful detention, a Level 6 felony.
Police: Man pushed woman, threw phone in woods
JACKSON TWP. — Police arrested a 39-year-old Brown County man on Aug. 20 after a woman said he charged at her while she was recording him being mad at her, pushed her onto a loveseat and threw her cellphone into the woods.
Police responded to the home in the 9500 block of Hassetown Road after a third-party caller reported a domestic disturbance there, a probable cause affidavit by Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Minor states.
A woman at the home said Bradley Russell had locked himself in a bedroom. Minor also reported seeing blood on the porch and the woman said the blood was from Russell’s finger after she bit him to get him off her, the affidavit states.
Deputy Nicholson Briles noticed that items from the refrigerator were thrown throughout the kitchen and there were more blood drops on the kitchen floor.
The woman told police that she and Russell had been drinking, then began arguing, but she could not remember what started the argument. The woman then threw steaks that Russell had set out for dinner, which angered Russell, and he began throwing items from the refrigerator, according to the affidavit.
The woman said she began filming Brown, and when he noticed, he charged toward her. He grabbed her phone and kept it. Russell then put his hand on the woman’s face and pushed her onto a loveseat. She bit his finger to get him off her, the affidavit states.
She was able to grab a tablet in the home and call a friend, who then called police.
Russell told police he threw the phone in the woods because she had thrown steaks for dinner into the woods.
The woman told police the two also had fought on Aug. 13 and she showed pictures of marks on her shoulder from where Russell had placed his hands on her, pushed her down and held her on the loveseat, according to the affidavit.
Russell told police that after he had finished mowing the yard, he came into the kitchen and he said the woman began “taunting him.” He said he became upset when she threw the steaks into the weeds, which is when he began throwing items from the refrigerator.
He told Minor he had pushed the woman onto the loveseat and that she bit his finger for the second time in a few weeks. He also said he threw her phone in the weeds like she threw the steaks. Russell said he’d had three beers from a 12-pack he picked up after work, the affidavit states.
Russell was arrested and taken to the Brown County jail. On Aug. 21, he was charged with domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor.
Traffic stop results in OWI arrest, charges
A traffic stop for driving left of center twice resulted in a 42-year-old Brown County man being arrested for driving while intoxicated on Aug. 24.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Gibson and Nashville Police Patrolman Davis Huynh conducted the stop near the intersection of State Road 46 East and State Road 135 South.
The driver, Joshua Duke, admitted to drinking and agreed to a field sobriety test, according to Gibson’s probable cause affidavit.
Gibson reported that Duke smelled of alcohol, that his eyes were glossy and bloodshot and that he was swaying. He failed three field tests. A portable breath test had his blood-alcohol content at 0.11, according to the affidavit.
Before he was taken to jail, Duke handed officers a plastic wrapper from his left pocket with marijuana inside, the affidavit states.
Once at the jail, a certified breath test was administered and Duke’s BAC was 0.16, twice the legal limit of 0.08, the report said.
At the jail, Duke told Gibson he’d had four to five drinks that evening and that he had stopped drinking just prior to the traffic stop, according to the affidavit.
Officers reported finding five empty beer cans along with two full beer cans in the passenger side of the truck.
On Aug. 25, Duke was charged with three misdemeanors for operating a vehicle while intoxicated along with a Class B misdemeanor for possession of marijuana.
Stop to check on moped driver results in OWI arrest
A Brown County man was arrested on Aug. 29 after a police officer stopped to check on him while he was sitting on the side of State Road 46 East without his moped lights on and discovered he was operating the vehicle while intoxicated.
Nashville Patrolman Billy Bryant stopped to check on Adrian Emmons just before 1 a.m. in front of Creekside Retreat.
Bryant reported smelling alcohol on Emmons, that his speech was slurred and his balance was “very poor,” the probable cause affidavit states.
A portable breath test had Emmons’ blood-alcohol level at 0.20, which is almost three times the legal limit, the affidavit states.
Jail staff reported finding a marijuana pen in the backpack he was wearing. Emmons told Bryant the pen was his, according to the affidavit.
Emmons was charged on Aug. 31 with three misdemeanors for operating a vehicle while intoxicated and possession of marijuana.
