Ponderay man arrested on domestic battery charge

PONDERAY — A Ponderay man has been arrested on charges of felony domestic battery after police allege he peed on his partner, sent out salacious photos of her, and hit her in the head with a chair.

On July 8, Ponderay Police officers were dispatched to an active family offense after receiving a call from a woman who claimed her partner was “trying to kill her and had hit her in the head with a chair.”

Upon arrival, police noted the woman had a severe head injury on the left side of her face and scalp area.

“There was blood all over the apartment, on the walls, floor, furniture,” an officer wrote in the probable cause affidavit. “And the table/chairs were turned over and things were scattered all around the floor.”

The suspect, 41-year-old Jacob Wayne Young, was found in the bathroom covered in blood and holding his wrist. Young allegedly told officers that he and his partner had gotten into an argument after he peed on her for a comment she made that he disliked. According to court records, Young told officers he left for several hours, and upon his return, he claimed his partner stabbed him in the hand while he was attempting to climb into the residence through a window.

When she continued to come at him with the knife once he was inside, Young allegedly told officers that he threw the chair at her in self defense.

Officers then left to speak with the alleged victim, who needed staples for her severe head injury. She also allegedly told officers that a fight broke out after she was urinated on for a comment she made. During this fight, court documents contend that Young grabbed the alleged victim’s phone, left the residence, and sent nude photos of her to his friends.

When he allegedly climbed through the window, the fight started back up again, according to the affidavit. Young allegedly stated, “Now I’m going to kill you,” after the alleged victim threw a dog toy at him. This is when Young picked up a chair and hit her in the head with it, she told officers.

According to court records, the alleged victim then went into the kitchen and grabbed a butter knife and waved it at him in an attempt to keep him from harming her further. However, she allegedly claimed that she never hurt him with the knife.

“Although both [Young] and [the alleged victim] claimed self-defense from the other, after speaking with both parties at length, looking at the amount of blood and chaos in the house, observing their injuries in conjunction with their version of events and demeanors and their physical size disparity, I believed [Young] to be the aggressor …” an officer wrote in the probable cause affidavit.

Young was charged with one count of felony domestic battery. His bail was set at $150,000 and his preliminary hearing is set for July 17.