Officers from three departments were trying to find a rolling domestic dispute involving a Bloomfield man now accused of traveling down numerous country roads at a high speed while hitting and spitting at his female passenger. When they finally located him at his home, he was taken into custody.

James Curtis Easter, 56, of rural Bloomfield, was arrested on Thursday night, September 5, by Sgt. Bobby Pierce of the Greene County Sheriff’s Department. He was booked in around 9 p.m. to the Greene County Jail where his bond was set at $2,500 surety with ten percent cash allowed. He has since posted $250, been released and ordered to appear in court for his initial hearing on Thursday morning, September 26.

The search to find the dispute started when the female passenger in a vehicle driven by Easter called 911 to report that her boyfriend, Easter, was driving down a road at high speed and was hitting her and spitting in her face. The woman said Easter was taking several back roads and during the call, dispatch lost contact with her and was unable to reach her again.

Several officers responded including Sgt. Pierce, GCSD Deputy Alan Jackson, Deputy Marshal Jordan Allor of the Bloomfield Police Department and Deputy Marshals Russell Walls and Edson Westgate of the Worthington Police Department.

While this was going on, dispatch received another call from a witness who said she saw a blue four-door passenger car, possibly a Chevrolet, with a man and woman inside. The witness told a dispatcher that the car was all over the roadway and almost rear-ended her in Switz City. She also said it looked like the man and woman were fighting.

After searching, officers located Easter and the woman, along with a blue Chevrolet Cobalt, at their home on Antioch Road. Sgt. Pierce reported the two were verbally arguing when officers arrived. The two were separated and Easter was interviewed by Officer Allor while Deputy Pierce interviewed the woman.

Sgt. Pierce reported the woman said they had been visiting in Linton and stopped at McDonald’s on the way home to get a sandwich but while she was trying to eat it, Easter ripped it out of her hand and threw it out the window. She said he became violent, grabbed her arm, twisted her hands, spit in her face three times, and when she called 911, he took twisted her hand and took her phone away. She allegedly said she scratched his arm and tried to bite him in an effort to defend herself.

Officer Allor reported Easter said the woman spit in his face and he spit back in hers but he said he never hit her or grabbed her. He said she threw a cheeseburger at him. Sgt. Pierce noted a cheeseburger wrapper was found in his pocket.

According to Sgt. Pierce, Easter had a small cut to his arm and a bite mark which he claimed he sustained the day before, but the woman had visible bruising, redness and swelling to her left arm, a small cut on her hand and redness and swelling of her hand.

Easter was arrested. When he appears in Greene Superior Court, he will be formally charged with:

• Domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor,

• Battery by bodily waste, a Class B misdemeanor, and

• Interference with the reporting of a crime, a Class A misdemeanor.