A Lonsdale man was arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges Wednesday after allegedly forcing his way into his ex-girlfriend's home and assaulting her ex-husband.
John Branson Eggers, 28, who lists a Cockrell Street address, was taken into custody shortly after 6 p.m. and charged with a felony count of residential burglary, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and misdemeanor counts of third-degree battery and second-degree criminal mischief, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Eggers remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $7,000 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Hot Springs police were dispatched to a disturbance at a residence in the 1900 block of West St. Louis Street involving a gun and were told a male suspect had just left in a white Toyota Tundra truck.
Officers stopped the truck near West St. Louis and Airport Road and made contact with the driver, identified as Eggers, who was taken into custody while Cpl. Zac Rostan made contact with several people in front of the residence.
One woman stated her ex-boyfriend of a couple of days, identified as Eggers, had broken into the residence, belonging to her mother, at the same time her ex-husband was dropping off their 2-year-old son. She said Eggers had been in communication with her and was told not to come over, but he allegedly told her he was coming over anyway and "didn't care if she called the cops."
She said he pulled up in his truck, striking a corner post of the chain-link fence, causing it to bend over and shifting the fence toward the house. She said Eggers got out and approached the house and her mother met him by the driveway gate and told him he needed to leave.
She said he pushed past her mother and continued to the front door which was closed and locked. She said he began hitting and kicking the door as her mother walked up on the porch so she and her ex-husband opened the door to let her mother in. When the door opened, Eggers allegedly forced his way in.
The ex-husband had a pistol with him and pointed it at Eggers, who allegedly said, "Go ahead and shoot me." Then Eggers allegedly grabbed the ex-husband by the throat and shoved him against the wall. The two men struggled over the gun and fell to the floor as the ex-girlfriend tried to pull Eggers off.
At that point, the 2-year-old began crying and Eggers got off the ex-husband. He called the child's name once and then left the residence and got back into his truck. He reportedly began punching the steering wheel and honking the horn before driving away and was stopped by police moments later.
The affidavit notes about $250 in damages were caused to the post, fence and front door and the ex-husband suffered injuries to his right wrist, right arm and had a large abrasion on his back.
Officers reportedly observed shoe prints on the door where it had been kicked in that matched the soles of the boots Eggers was wearing. When questioned, Eggers initially denied kicking the door but when confronted with the evidence of the boot prints he reportedly admitted he did it "because he was mad."
Eggers claimed everything was fine between him and his ex-girlfriend leading up to the incident, but detectives showed him text messages where he was reportedly cursing at her and he allegedly admitted it was "a possibility" he sent them.
The ex-husband told police he felt like he, his ex-wife, her mother and his son were all in danger from Eggers and the only reason he didn't shoot him was because his son was in the room and some kids were playing basketball directly across the street.
Local on 03/29/2019