WARSAW – A Claypool man was arrested following an alleged domestic dispute.

Austin Matthew Bernicky

Austin Matthew Bernicky, 21, 4945 E. CR 900S, Claypool, is charged with domestic battery and strangulation, both a level 6 felony.

On Tuesday, May 26, officers were dispatched to the intersection of CR 300N and CR 400E near Chapman Lake about a domestic dispute taking place in a vehicle. Upon arriving at the location, officers we able to find a Dodge passenger car with a female driving, and Bernicky in the passenger seat.

The two were involved in a verbal altercation when officers arrived.

An officer had the female exit the vehicle. She had visible marks on her neck and said that Bernicky had grabbed her neck, which restricted her breathing. The woman also mentioned that Bernicky grabbed and pulled out parts of her hair.

Officers noticed some amounts of hair in the vehicle including some attached to Bernicky’s beard.

Bernicky admitted there was an altercation, but denied that it became physical.

Bernicky was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on May 26.