A Simsboro man was arrested late Aug. 13 after a domestic disturbance in which a 9-year-old child was punched in the head, according to a Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office affidavit.
Karl Jamaal Johnson, 44, was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on one count of violation of protective orders and two counts of domestic abuse battery with child endangerment.
A Lincoln Parish sheriff’s deputy responded to a Simsboro residence at about 11:24 p.m. after a relative of Johnson’s called dispatch and reported that he was intoxicated and had put his hands on her and on a 9-year-old child. While the deputy was en route, dispatch advised that a protective order issued through the Third Judicial District barred Johnson from coming within 200 yards of the residence and the relative. The order is valid through Aug. 28.
The relative told the deputy that Johnson had been trying to pretend nothing had happened. The deputy found Johnson in a bedroom, gave him verbal commands to come out and detained him. Johnson had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming off his person, the deputy noted.
The relative said the evening had been pleasant until Johnson began drinking and then became agitated over a disagreement. A verbal argument escalated, she said, and Johnson got up into her face and began putting his hands on her. The 9-year-old intervened and jumped on Johnson, who threw the child off and hit the child in the head. The 9-year-old confirmed the account.
Johnson told the deputy he had security video of the incident showing that he was the victim. The footage instead showed Johnson pressing his body against the relative and following her around the living room as she tried to move away from him, then grabbing her roughly by the arm near the front door. The 9-year-old jumped on Johnson’s back, and Johnson threw the child to the ground and punched the child in the head with a closed fist.
Three other children, all under the age of 5, were in the residence at the time.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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