Woman arrested after tenant says she hit him with a hammer while he was in bedroom
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IDAHO FALLS — A 49-year-old woman is facing aggravated battery charges after a man renting from her said she hit him with a hammer.
According to court documents, officers with the Idaho Falls Police Department were called to a home on Garfield Street around 4 a.m. after a 911 caller said he had been hit in the head with a hammer.
Officers contacted the caller on the porch of the home, where he was seen holding the back of his head. The man had blood coming from a small cut on the back of his head and bruising on the left side of his head.
The man said that the police had just left the home earlier that night over an incident in which his landlord, Rebecca Lee Taylor, had become upset, believing she could kick him out at any time.
Officers said the man had been living there for the past month and was paying rent to Taylor.
The man claimed that Taylor had entered his room with a hammer and threatened to kill him. He said that she walked toward him with the hammer while he was still in bed.
The pair fought for control of the hammer, and he said Taylor hit him two or three times with the hammer.
After getting the hammer from Taylor, she left the room. This allowed him to call 911, he said.
The man said he never struck Taylor and just fought for control of the hammer.
Taylor told officers that her tenant was verbally abusing her, and she went to his room with a hammer to force him to leave, according to police.
Court documents state Taylor alleged the tenant had struck her before she went into his room with the hammer.
Taylor said he had punched her and placed his forearm across her throat, which prompted her to hit him with the hammer.
The officer said Taylor had a cut on her left forearm, and her neck was red.
When questioned about why she went to her tenant’s room with a hammer, she said she wanted to threaten him into leaving.
Taylor was placed under arrested for one felony count of aggravated battery and booked into the Bonneville County Jail.
She is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge Wiley Dennert at 1 p.m. on Jan. 30.
Though Taylor has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.