A man charged with kicking in the door of a residence and chasing one of the occupants while wielding a knife appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Thirty-six-year-old Zachery Johnston whose last known address was in Gamaliel pled not guilty to charges of residential burglary, first degree battery, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a minor in the third degree.
Baxter County sheriffs deputies responded to a 911 call about 2:45 a.m. on March 7. The call came from an address along County Road 804.
The victim told the deputies that after Johnston had broken down the front door and entered his home, he began chasing the victim. Johnston was armed with a knife, according to the victim.
The victim said he retreated up the stairs and into a bedroom.
The commotion woke the victims wife and eight-year-old son. The son was reported to have been so upset and frightened by the events that he had vomited.
Johnston retreated down the stairs and exited the house. While making his way out, he is reported to have shoved the victims 73-year-old grandmother down.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the womans fall left her bruised along her right cheekbone and on left forearm.
Johnston was reported to have left the scene driving a white Jeep, possibly a Rubicon model.
The male victim told police he knew Johnston having once been his landlord.
Deputies questioned the victims wife. The wife said she had been in a bedroom with the couples three children. She said that Johnston, kicked in our front door and began screaming her husbands name.
She said Johnson also kicked in her bedroom door swinging his knife around, trying to stab my husband.
The wife said she chased Johnston out of her room and witnessed him shove the 73-year-old grandmother down.
Deputies found an address for Johnson and went to talk with him. They found him, milling about the grounds outside the residence.
Johnston said he had been out and about that day but denied allegations concerning the home invasion.
A white Jeep Rubicon was found on the property and investigators reported the engine was still warm.
Johnston was taken to the Baxter County Detention Center where he was booked without incident.
Johnston was released from the Baxter County Detention Center on Tuesday.
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