North Manchester Man Arrested For Battering Woman
WARSAW — A North Manchester man was recently arrested after allegedly battering a woman who then needed treatment at a hospital.
Gregory Wayne Watkins Jr., 34, 407 N. Market St. B., North Manchester, is charged with criminal confinement, a level 5 felony; domestic battery with moderate bodily injury, a level 6 felony; and domestic battery, a class A misdemeanor.
On Sept. 20, 2019, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a domestic battery complaint at an undisclosed residence. The officer talked with a woman who was walking very slow and was slightly bent over, holding her left side. According to court documents, the woman said she thought she had broken ribs and asked the officer to take her to the hospital.
At the hospital, the officer asked the woman what happened and she said she wouldn’t tell him anything other than she fell while carrying groceries. The officer told the woman to call the sheriff’s department if she changed her mind.
Later that evening, the woman met with the officer at the sheriff’s department and said that Watkins had called her and told her that a child at the residence had broken his arm and that she needed to come home right away. The woman called a friend and explained what was going on, telling him to be ready in case she needed help.
When the woman arrived, she quickly realized the child had not broken his arm and wasn’t even at the residence. Watkins came out of the house, grabbed the woman by her hair and started hitting her head and other parts of her body. He then pulled the woman out of her vehicle by her hair and told her to get in the house. After she entered the house, Watkins threw the woman onto the floor where he hit and kicked the side of her.
According to court documents, when the woman was able to get away, Watkins allegedly told her he was not going to let her leave and once again threw her on the floor, hitting her and kicking her. Watkins stopped hitting and kicking the woman when her friend entered the house and asked what he was doing.
The woman’s injuries included cervical strain, bruised ribs, contusion of the chest wall and a facial contusion.
Watkins was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Jan. 3, 2020, with a $10,250 surety and cash bond.