Photo: Joel Preston Fuller
A Mountain Home man allegedly had an electrical cord wrapped around his victim’s neck when deputies arrived Saturday night at a residence east of Mountain Home. Baxter County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the residence on Buzzard Roost Road for a fight in progress between two males. One of the men, 32-year-old Joel Preston Fuller, was arrested, while the other was taken by ambulance to Baxter Regional Medical Center for treatment of his injuries.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the case, when deputies went into the residence, Fuller ran down a hallway into a bedroom and shut the door, while the victim was observed in another bedroom gasping for air. Deputies noted the victim had numerous marks on his body and was bleeding from his face.
Deputies noted Fuller smelled of alcohol, and a female at the residence said Fuller had been drinking and was the aggressor in the fight. She said the victim had gone to his bedroom to get away from Fuller, but he punched a hole through the door to gain access, entered the room and started hitting him. She said Fuller had an electrical cord from a fan wrapped around the victim’s neck, when deputies arrived. She told deputies Fuller believed she and the victim were having a physical relationship.
Fuller, after being placed in handcuffs, made it difficult for deputies to get him to a car for transport to the jail. When he got to the stairs, Fuller reportedly went limp and tried to fall down the stairs. Deputies caught Fuller and then had to drag him down the stairs because he refused to walk.
A deputy went back into the residence to check on the victim who was having a seizure. It was determined at the emergency room the victim had suffered a concussion and a broken rib in the assault.
When Fuller arrived at the Baxter County Detention Center, he continued to resist and threatened a jailer. A TASER had to be deployed to get him under control.
Fuller is charged with felony counts of battery in the second degree and impairing the operation of a vital facility; along with misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, obstructing governmental operations and disorderly conduct. He is being held on a $15,000 bond.
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