Woman arrested after allegedly attacking man with a hammer and throwing meth out of her pockets

IDAHO FALLS — A 44-year-old Idaho Falls woman was arrested on multiple felony charges after police say she attacked a man with a hammer during a fight.

Sarah Westbrook is charged with felonies for aggravated battery and destruction of evidence, and misdemeanors for use or possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting or obstructing officers.

On Jan. 10, around 4 p.m., a Bonneville County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a home after a report of an assault, according to police reports. Upon arrival, the deputy saw a man bleeding heavily from his head. The man said he “had been hit in the head with a hammer.”

The man told police that he and Westbrook had been arguing because he had thrown away drug paraphernalia, which made her upset. He said he had locked Westbrook out of the house when she went to her car because she was “extremely angry.”

Westbrook allegedly began knocking on and hitting the door, eventually breaking it open.

According to the man, he went upstairs, where the two continued arguing, and Westbrook tried to hit him with a weight bar. He then told deputies that he went into the kitchen to make food, when Westbrook “snuck up behind him and hit him on the back of the head with a hammer.”

The man says Westbrook then ran out the back door with the hammer, and he lost sight of her, so he called 911.

He then reportedly “armed himself with an AR-15 rifle” because he stated he was “scared she would come back to the house before law enforcement arrived.”

Deputies say the man had a cut on the back of his head and was transported to Idaho Falls Community Hospital by ambulance.

Around 6 p.m., deputies found Westbrook behind the home and tried to get away from them. They yelled for her to stop, but she did not and threw items from her pockets, the sheriff’s office said. Eventually, Westbrook complied and was arrested.

Deputies say among the things Westbrook threw out of her pockets was a “large crystal-like substance consistent with methamphetamine” hidden on the back of a card. They also said they found more of the same substance in her right jacket pocket. The substance later tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine.

The hammer that the man said he had been hit with was not found.

According to Westbrook, she and the man had been arguing for a couple of days, and they got into a fight. She claimed that the man had choked her and she almost lost consciousness.

Westbrook also told deputies that the man had retrieved a gun from a closet and was threatening her with it.

She told police that she had forgotten her car keys when she first left the home and realized the man had locked her out, so she broke down the front door before leaving.

Westbrook was then booked into the Bonneville County Jail on a $50,000 bond, and a no-contact order was issued for the victim. During the booking process, deputies say they found a tube in her purse that appeared to be “an old pen housing with white residue and burnt end.”

Court documents say the item appeared to be a “tooter” which is used to smoke opiates. Westbrook allegedly told deputies it was not a “meth pipe” but was for smoking fentanyl.

She is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Friday. If convicted, Westbrook could face up to 29 years in prison.

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