Wyoming man arrested, accused of assaulting girlfriend in Blackfoot

BLACKFOOT — A 26-year-old man has been arrested and charged with domestic battery and aggravated assault after police say he beat a woman and pointed a gun at her head following an argument.

Kristepher Scott R. Chappell, of Rock Springs, Wyoming, is charged with one felony count each of domestic battery and aggravated assault. If he is found guilty, he faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $15,000.

The alleged crimes happened after midnight on Jan. 9. Charging documents say an officer with the Blackfoot Police Department was dispatched to a residence in the 20 block of northeast Main Street regarding a possible domestic disturbance. Police said a neighbor reported hearing what sounded like a man beating a woman.

Once officers arrived in the area, they said two juveniles flagged them down and guided them to the apartment.

One officer said he approached the door and listened for a few minutes, reporting that he heard a woman say “ow” several times and that she sounded distressed. The officer said he also heard a man’s voice but did not understand what was being said, only that the man was angry.

Knocking on the door, the officer said he identified himself and asked those inside to come to the door. On the second knock, a man, later identified as Chappell, opened the door.

Chappell was shirtless and had red marks on his shoulders, charging documents state. A woman was standing behind him, with the officer reporting she looked like she had recently been hit in the face.

The officer said he immediately placed Chappell in handcuffs and escorted him to a patrol car, where he read the man his Miranda rights.

While being questioned, Chappell told the officer that he and the woman, his girlfriend of five months, had been drinking and were “having a bad night,” the charges say. He said their argument was about his son and the woman allegedly communicating with another man.

When the officer asked whether the argument had turned physical, Chappell said they had hit the drinks out of each other’s hands while “cheerzing,” the documents say. When the officer asked why the woman was saying “ow,” he said Chappell told him “he did not know.”

The officer then spoke with the woman and asked what caused the injuries to her face. He said she told him that “life had happened.”

The woman then reportedly told the officer the fight was her fault and did not want to pursue charges.

Still, the officer said he asked to take a closer look at the woman’s injuries and found her left eyelid notably swollen and the area around both her eyes was red. He said her right eye showed redness consistent with being punched.

At some point, the woman informed the officer that Chappell had a gun, charges state, and another officer located a firearm in the bedroom. The woman reportedly said the gun belonged to Chappell and that he had held it against her head that night.

The documents state the woman then told officers that she had threatened to leave Chappell, and that’s when he knocked the drink out of her hands and pulled out the gun. The woman said Chappell had told her he was going to kill her, according to the charges.

When asked if Chappell had any desire to die, the woman told officers he was suicidal and had threatened to kill himself a few months prior to the incident.

During a second interview with Chappell, police say he told them the woman’s injuries occurred when the two were cheering with drinks. He then said, “I have not laid my hands on her, not to any extent that can be recalled,” charging documents state.

When the allegation that Chappell held a gun to the woman’s head was brought up, police say Chappell told them there was no way he had done that. The documents state that the officer then asked at what point the gun was brought out, and Chappell said it was after he had told the woman he did not want to be alive.

When asked whether DNA from the woman would be found on the gun, Chappell reportedly said it would, as she had held it in the past. The documents state Chappell did not deny the statement made by the woman, but he doesn’t remember pointing the gun at her head.

Chappell was booked into the Bingham County Jail and later charged with the two felonies in Idaho’s 7th District Court. He is scheduled to appear before Magistrate Judge James Howard Barrett Jr. for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 22.

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