The Transplant Has a Question

MARMET, W.Va. -- Police are looking for a Marmet man accused of striking his girlfriend with a broom after an argument over a broken watermelon.

Marmet police were dispatched Aug. 3 to an assault in progress at a Maryland Avenue home after a concerned neighbor reported a man beating a woman with a broomstick, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Magistrate Court.

Amber Alderson told officers after they arrived that she had been at the Maryland Avenue home of her boyfriend, identified as 28-year-old Scot Lowe, and that her child had been playing in the yard with his children, the complaint said.

Alderson told officers that a watermelon in Lowe's garden had been broken while the children were playing and that her child was blamed for the cracked fruit, the complaint said.

The woman said Lowe got angry, getting a lawnmower and mowing over the entire garden, according to the complaint.

The couple then got into an argument and Alderson asked Lowe to drive her and her child to her 98th Street home, police said. When she got home, however, she realized she'd forgotten her purse at Lowe's home and had him take her back to get it, according to the complaint.

Back at his house, Lowe started yelling at Alderson, then allegedly picked up a broomstick and struck Alderson repeatedly on her arms, legs and sides, the complaint said.

Lowe stopped the alleged assault when officers arrived at the house, police said. Alderson suffered deep bruising and scrapes to her arms, legs, sides and back and was treated and released from Charleston Area Medical Center's General Hospital, police said.

Authorities issued an arrest warrant for Lowe on Aug. 17. He faces charges of domestic battery.

Lowe stopped the alleged assault when officers arrived at the house, police said.

August 28, 2009 - Charleston man charged with throwing, killing kitten

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Charleston man was arrested Friday for throwing a kitten about 60 feet, killing it, a criminal complaint alleges.

Robert Stephenson, 25, was charged with the misdemeanor offense of animal cruelty after he tossed the kitten between himself and several friends on Aug. 2, then threw the kitten from the edge of his yard, according to the criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

The incident allegedly happened while Stephenson was drinking in front of his Red Oak Street apartment, according to the complaint.

Stephenson was released Friday on a $2,500 cash bond.

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