MITCHELL – A Bedford man was arrested on a warrant after Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department officers responded to a domestic dispute on Tuesday, July 23.
Officers arrested 54-year-old Richard ‘Dickie’ P. Gaines II after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of domestic battery in the presence of a minor and criminal confinement.
According to Lawrence County Police Department Officer Corey D. Housel, on Tuesday, July 23, at 7:23 a.m., a woman called Lawrence County Central Dispatch requesting to speak to an officer about a domestic dispute.
She told police she was attempting to leave for work when Dickie took her keys and threw them at her. She said she was sitting in her car, and Dickie was still in the house.
Captain Andrew Phillips and Deputies Calvin Callahan, Corey Housel, and Mitchell Police Chief Troy Lobosky responded. While en route, police learned the woman had left the home and would meet officers at the Marion Township Volunteer Fire She told dispatchers as she was leaving Dickie was “coming toward her, and she didn’t feel safe, so she drove across the highway to the fire department”.
When officers arrived, the woman said Dickie had left on a bicycle and went to the Sinclair station. She told the police she believed he had gone there looking for her.
The woman told police she was leaving for work when Dickie approached her and began cursing. She opened the door to leave. He kicked it shut. She then went out through another door and got into the car. He ran after her and took the keys out of the car so she couldn’t leave. Three children witnessed the incident.
The woman told police the couple’s relationship was “toxic now, along with being mentally and emotionally abusive.”
She said all she wanted to do was to walk out the door and leave.
According to Captain Phillips, Dickie told him he was not aiming at her when he threw the car keys. He said the key ring got caught on his thumb and ended up hitting the woman. The woman suffered swelling, discoloration, and a knot where the keys hit her arm.
The woman signed a battery affidavit.
The information was forwarded to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
