The Commerce Police Department arrested a Crossing Place Apartments resident on four charges after kicking in his apartment door.
Elisha David Stone, 26, 5222 Crossing Place Apartments, faces charges of simple battery, cruelty to children, obstructing law enforcement officers and criminal trespass.
According to the arrest report, a pair of officers was dispatched to the apartments after a witness called 911 to report sounds of an argument in an adjacent apartment.
When the police arrived, they went to the apartment and knocked on the door, but no one came to the door. The complainant told police the same thing had happened before — a loud argument, police arriving and the occupants not coming to the door.
Suddenly, the officers heard a loud noise like a gunshot. One of the officers yelled into the apartment that after a count of three he was going to kick in the door to gain entry. When the officer did as he’d promised, the police found Stone in the living room, ordered him to the floor and placed him in handcuffs.
Nearby, they saw his wife, who had a bloody nose and a bruise on her face, holding a child. When they asked her what happened, she told police that she fell, according to the report.
The officers found a pistol on a table near the living room couch, but determined that it had not been fired. The officers noted water all over the TV in the living room and the X-Box 360, which the couple said was a result of throwing water during an argument. In the master bedroom, the report said, police found the TV broken and milk or baby formula all over it, suggesting someone had thrown a baby bottle at the TV. The woman, the report said, told police that the TV fell over, creating a loud noise that police had thought might be a gunshot.
The report also noted that Stone repeatedly denied hitting the woman.
