A Hot Springs man was arrested late Friday after allegedly attacking his estranged wife while she was holding her 2-year-old child and in front of four other children.
Gabriel Ivan Ortiz-Lopez, 25, who lists a Plateau Street address, was taken into custody near his listed residence shortly before 10:30 p.m. and charged with second-degree domestic battery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and misdemeanor counts of third-degree domestic battery, second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, fleeing on foot and public intoxication.
Ortiz-Lopez was being held on zero bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, around 10:15 p.m., Hot Springs police Officer Taylor Gates responded to the Plateau Street residence to a disturbance and upon arrival noted the glass in the front door and a front window had been broken out.
Then he heard a woman screaming from the rear of the residence and found the victim in the backyard with a large amount of blood coming from a contusion to her head. She told them her husband, identified as Ortiz-Lopez, had hit her and was running away.
Officers spotted Ortiz-Lopez running toward a wooded area behind the house and ordered him to stop. He reportedly continued to flee through the woods toward West Maurice Street where he tripped and fell down and was taken into custody without further incident.
A computer check showed he had a warrant for third-degree domestic battery stemming from an alleged incident on May 3 where he had slapped his wife several times, causing bruising to her cheek and a black eye. He was also found to have a previous conviction on March 31, 2017, for domestic battery involving the same victim.
While taking him into custody, Gates noted Ortiz-Lopez had a strong odor of intoxicants coming from him, bloodshot, watery eyes and was unsteady on his feet.
The victim stated Ortiz-Lopez had come to the residence and was yelling and breaking out the glass on her locked door. Then he broke out the glass in a window to gain entry to the house and once inside grabbed a wooden table leg and struck her on the head with it.
She noted she was holding her 2-year-old child at the time and blood from the blow got on the child. Also present during the incident were four other children and Gates noted they were all "emotionally distressed."
She said Ortiz-Lopez had lived there until she filed the battery charge against him on May 3.
Local on 05/30/2018