MITCHELL – On Wednesday, March 13, at 11:13 p.m., Lawrence County Central Dispatch received a 911 call from a woman in the 5000 block of Lawrenceport Road in the 5000 block of Lawrenceport Road, requesting officers to the home because her boyfriend, 43-year-old Daniel Steward of Austin, had beat and choked her.
The woman said she had run from the home and hid in the woods.
Captain Harrison Fleetwood, Offices Joshua Rhoads, and Kenton Carter responded.
When they arrived, a female walking out of the woods met them. The left side of the woman’s face was red, and she had red fingerprint markings on her neck.
The woman told police when she arrived home at 10:30 p.m., Steward was drunk. She told him he needed to leave because he was intoxicated, and he became angry and grabbed her face and told her he wasn’t going anywhere and wasn’t leaving. She told police she pushed Steward away, and he fell on the steps. She told him not to touch her. He then grabbed her and fell back on the stairs. She pushed Steward off her and ran into a bedroom. He followed and continued to argue and call her names.
She told him he was not staying at the house and that she would take him anywhere he wanted to go, but he had to leave.
That is when he pushed her on the bed, got on top of her, put both hands around her neck, and choked her. She tried pushing Steward off her, but he kept his right hand on her neck, balled up his left hand into a fist, and punched her in the face. She was able to push Steward off her, ran outside, dialed 911, and hid from Steward
She said Steward then came outside looking for her.
She told police she wanted to file charges.
Officers went to the door and knocked, and Steward answered with his arms raised. He was detained. Police say Steward was intoxicated.
Steward told police the woman had been texting him before she came home, but he hadn’t seen the messages. When she arrived home, she was angry and began arguing with him. He said the woman was being a “bitch” and “kept pushing his buttons.”
When police entered the garage, they found shattered glass and blood all over the concrete. Steward had cut his foot on the glass. Steward refused medical attention.
Steward told police that the woman had pushed him, and he may have accidentally hit her when he was trying to get her away from him. He said he never touched her other than to push her. He denied choking her.
Police said Steward did have scratch marks on his back. He told police they were from the woman when she was attacking him for not answering her text messages.
Police then learned Steward was also wanted on an outstanding warrant in Jennings County.
The woman signed a battery affidavit, and Steward was arrested on charges of domestic battery and strangulation.
Steward was transported to IU Health Hospital to treat the cut on his foot.
