Man arrested after allegedly throwing hot soup on baby, rubbing hot chili oil in woman’s eyes

AMMON — A 23-year-old man was arrested Tuesday and is facing felony charges after deputies say he threw hot soup on his 3-month-old baby and rubbed hot chili oil in a woman’s eyes.

Carlos Swearingen, of Ammon, is charged with felonies for attempted strangulation, injury to a child, misdemeanor domestic battery without traumatic injury, and an enhancement for domestic battery or assault in the presence of a child.

According to court documents, Bonneville County sheriff’s deputies were called to an apartment in Bonneville County on Tuesday at 1:58 a.m. for a domestic disturbance.

When they arrived, deputies say they heard a woman screaming and saw her running out of the apartment with two children. The woman was “visually distraught, and her two children were crying,” charging documents say.

Deputies then reportedly heard a “loud bang” come from the apartment, and the woman told officers that Swearingen was inside the apartment and had been “drinking all night.”

Deputies detained Swearingen and noticed fresh scratch marks on his body, as he was only wearing underwear. Charging documents say that when asked what the scratch marks were from, Swearingen stated they were “scars from months ago.”

Swearingen then told deputies that he and the woman had an argument and he “shoved (her) around a little and that’s all,” according to the charges.

The woman said Swearingen had opened some mail at about 1:50 a.m. and did not like what he read. It is not clear what the mail was, but the woman told deputies it caused him to threaten to kill two of his family members.

The woman told Swearingen that she did not like what he was saying and to “stop because they were having a good night,” the charges say.

Swearingen reportedly became upset and started calling the woman names before he grabbed a bowl with onions, hot dumplings and hot chili oil, and “threw it at their 3-month-old baby.”

The woman told deputies the hot food landed “directly on (the baby),” so she rushed to the bathroom to try to clean it off. While she was at the sink, Swearingen came up behind the woman and began “rubbing hot chili oil in her eyes and grabbing her hair,” she said.

The woman said she began trying to wash her eyes out, but Swearingen began “striking her on the right side of her head with a closed fist,” charges say. The woman said she tried to escape the bathroom with the baby, telling Swearingen to stop because she was holding the baby, but he reportedly responded that he “didn’t give a f***.”

Deputies said the woman was able to get out of the bathroom and down the hallway while Swearingen was hitting her. She told officers she handed the baby to her 5-year-old child, who was standing at a bedroom door, and then “curled up on the floor trying to defend herself” as the attack continued.

During the alleged assault, the woman reportedly scratched Swearingen multiple times until he put her in a “rear naked choke hold,” according to the charges. The woman was eventually able to get away and get to her cellphone in the living room, but Swearingen “jumped up, taking the phone and throwing it at the wall, the report says.

The woman said she then ran to get the children, put the baby in a car seat, and fled the home.

Investigators later spoke with the woman’s 5-year-old child, who said Swearingen was “grabbing (her mother’s) hair and saying, ‘Get the “bad word” out!'” the charges say.

The child also told deputies that Swearingen was hitting and kicking the woman in the hallway and “rubbed hot salsa” in her mom’s eyes, so she tried to “lock her door and hide.”

Swearingen was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on a $75,000 bond.

A no-contact order was issued for the victim, and Swearingen is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 20. If convicted, he could face up to 26 years in prison.

Though Swearingen has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.