BUCKHANNON – An Upshur County man was arrested Friday after allegedly getting into a physical altercation with a woman while she was holding her infant.
Maliqueh I. Armstrong, 26, of Buckhannon, was arrested Oct. 20 for domestic battery, a misdemeanor; unlawful restraint, a misdemeanor; and child neglect creating a risk of injury, a felony.
According to the criminal complaint in Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by Cpl. F.J. Turansky, with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police, Turansky responded to a residence on Boxwood Drive in reference to a reported domestic dispute.
When Turansky arrived on the scene, he heard an adult female screaming, “Let me go, Let me up,” and a child yelling, too, according to the police report.
As Turansky entered the residence, he saw Armstrong and the victim coming out of the bedroom. The female victim appeared to be “extremely distraught” and told police she had just had a C-section performed approximately two weeks prior and had gotten into an argument with Armstrong while she was holding her infant.
Armstrong then allegedly “pulled her down onto the bed by her arm” and threatened the victim that “if CPS (Child Protective Services) gets called, things would get worse.”
The victim also told Turansky that Armstrong would not allow her to leave the bedroom, placed her on the bed, and allegedly “put his legs around her waist, [his] arms around her upper torso and would not let her go,” the criminal complaint states.
Armstrong allegedly admitted to police that he had placed his hand over the victim’s mouth to prevent her from screaming and said the victim had bitten him in response. He also allegedly admitted to holding the victim down on the bed with her arm behind her back during the altercation.
While at the residence, Turansky encountered a second child and another woman, the victim’s mother, who showed Turansky a video she had captured of Armstrong “holding [the victim] on the bed while she screamed,” according to the report.
Turansky charged Armstrong with domestic battery, unlawful restraint and child neglect, creating a risk of injury.
Upshur County Magistrate Mark Davis set bail at $30,000 cash only.
The penalty for a conviction of child neglect creating a risk of injury, the felony, is a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $3,000, imprisonment in the state penitentiary for one to five years, or both.
