By the time a Linton man, arrested last week, accused of a series of threats and threatening behavior including stalking, made his appearance in court yesterday, a second criminal case had been filed against him and he was charged with battery resulting in bodily injury in addition to stalking and intimidation.

Derrick Christopher Harper, 33, of Linton, was already in jail facing serious charges in one case when a second criminal case was filed against him so when he appeared in Greene Superior Court at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, November 13, initial hearings were conducted in both cases.

Information and details about the first case was posted in a story on GreeneStreets last Thursday.

In the newest case, Harper has been charged with battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor, following an investigation by Officer Joe Riley of the Linton Police Department.

Officer Riley responded around 10 p.m. on Saturday, October 6, after a female sibling of Harper called police and reported her brother had battered her while they were driving down F Street NE in Linton.

Riley said when he arrived to speak with her, Harper was nowhere to be found – he’d already fled the scene.

According to Officer Riley, the woman said she was a front seat passenger in a vehicle being driven by Harper’s girlfriend, with Harper in the back seat, when Harper reached up from the back seat, grabbed her head and hit her with his fist.

When this happened, the driver slowed and the woman was able to get out, but she said Harper got out right after her and started hitting her again in the head and face multiple times. She estimated she’d been hit 10-15 times.

She allegedly said this came out of nowhere, she didn’t know why he had done this, but she added he had not been taking his medication and would sometimes get violent for no reason.

In a probable cause affidavit prepared by Riley, he noted the woman had received lacerations, but she told him she did not need an ambulance.