Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Mother/Grandmother Charged With Domestic Assault

   A Lawrenceburg woman has been charged with assault in connection with a scuffle that allegedly occurred with her daughter in front of her grandchildren Monday.

   Deputies with the Lawrence Count Sheriff’s Department were summoned to the Old Florence Road home in Leoma shortly before 6:00 p.m. The residents reported they had returned from a swimming trip to find the female resident’s mother at their home. They told deputies they had warned her previously to stay away from their property.

   When they pulled up to the house the female victim reported that her mother immediately approached their vehicle and initiated a verbal altercation. Reports indicate that the couple’s children were present at the time.

   According to the couple, when another vehicle entered the driveway, the mother began to brandish a utility knife, then sprayed the male resident in the face/eyes with pepper spray. Deputies report at that point the mother grabbed at her daughter “placing visible scratches on her arm.”

   Although his vision was impaired by the spray, deputies report the male resident wrestled the woman to the ground, struggling to gain control of the knife. They indicate that the woman sustained a cut over her left eye in the struggle.

   Emergency Medical Service personnel arrived on the scene. Reports indicate they irrigated the male victim’s eyes in order to provide some relief. The mother, Dorothy Sue Vanderford, 50, of 311 Susanne Street, was transported to Crockett Hospital where she was treated and released. She was then placed under arrest on charges of domestic assault and criminal trespass and transported to the Lawrence County Jail.

   Vanderford is scheduled to answer the charges through Lawrence County General Sessions Court on July 6, 2009.