Incident Allegedly Triggered By Thermostat Adjustment
By Lasca Randels
InkFreeNews
WARSAW — A Warsaw man faces charges after allegedly striking a woman and a minor.
Jose M. Melendrez, 49, 340 E. Levi Lee Road 61, Warsaw, is charged with two counts of domestic battery with a child under 16 present, level 6 felonies; and two counts of domestic battery, class A misdemeanors.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on June 21, an officer from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 hang-up call from a hysterical woman.
When the officer arrived at the residence, he saw several people outside near a white passenger car. The officer saw a man on the driver’s side of the vehicle speaking sternly to a woman, who was visibly upset.
The officer spoke with another woman at the scene, who said there had been an argument and she had been contacted to pick up her kids and younger sisters. The woman identified Melendrez as the man who was talking to the upset woman near the driver’s side of the vehicle.
The officer then spoke with a minor at the scene. The minor said that Melendrez had been drinking all day and became upset when a woman at the residence adjusted the thermostat on the air conditioning.
The minor heard an argument and went into the living room where the minor saw Melendrez push, grab and slap the woman in the face.
The minor reportedly attempted to help the woman by grabbing Melendrez by the arm to prevent him from slapping the woman. At that time, the minor said, Melendrez pulled his arm free and continued hitting the woman.
When the minor tried to intervene further, Melendrez allegedly struck the minor in the face.
The officer reported that the woman at the scene had redness on her face and abrasions on her neck.
Melendrez was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail June 21 on a $6,000 surety and cash bond.