HELTONVILLE – A Heltonville man was arrested Sunday, October 16th after the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department Central Dispatch received a 911 call at 12:22 a.m. from a child reporting her mother and Micheal Lance Hignite were fighting.
The child stated her mother was bleeding from her mouth and the right side of her jaw.
Deputies responded to the 1000 block of Hickory Grove Road in Heltonville.
When police arrived they found 45-year-old Hignite standing outside. He attempted to hand a deputy his phone and glasses and extended his arms out toward the officer.
Hignite told police he was “tired of it and that she gets drunk and starts to hit me, and the cops show up and they want to take me to jail instead of her, so just take me so I do not get hit.”
He continued to say, his wife fights with him and “to put him in jail and he would fight it in court”.
Hignite reported, “it’s the same thing every night, she gets drunk and starts hitting him and when she has marks on her it is always his fault because he is trying to defend himself”.
Deputies reported that Hignite had been drinking and “smelled of alcohol”.
Hignite claimed the small red spot on his neck from a scratch was the woman striking him.
Hignite told the deputy, “never before until today did I ever hit her back, until today”. The deputy asked where Hignite had hit the woman and he said in the mouth with the back of his hand. He continued to say the woman held him down by the throat and was saying “I am going to kill you.” He said she had him on the ground and he flipped her over and then hit her with the back of his hand.
Deputies went to the residents and met the child who called the police.
The woman reported she was in a bedroom with the girls and didn’t remember a lot of what happened. Due to the woman’s crying and having a hard time breathing she was not able to explain to deputies in detail what happened.
The female child reported her mother and another female child were in the bedroom when Hignite came through the house yelling. Hignite then entered that bedroom. The child stated Hignite was angry about where the woman was having everyone sleep.
The child reported that Hignite sat on top of the woman and the woman could not breathe. It was at that time the woman told the child to call the police. The child attempted to help her mom because she could not breathe and threw a water bottle at Hignite. The child told the deputy that Hignite then hit her mother with that water bottle and then dumped it on her mother.
The child told a deputy, every time they fight Hignite hits her mother, and once the police are called Hignite tells them her mother hits him, and “that is not true”.
The child stated that Hignite “plays the victim and lies about what happens”.
The woman said Hignite pinned her down and had his hands around her neck. Police say she did have red marks around her neck and on her chest. The woman had two swollen eyes and swelling to the right side of her cheek area. She told police Hignite had punched her at least 7 times. She said while he was hitting her she was blocking the punches with her forearms. She also suffered pain in her jaw and could hardly open her mouth and suffered a bloody nose.
The child said shortly after she called the police, Hignite got off the woman and went outside.
An ambulance was called to the scene to check the woman’s injuries. Hignite was detained on charges of domestic battery in the presence of a minor, and strangulation.
