Chubbuck woman used broken beer bottle to slash another woman, charges say
Published at
CHUBBUCK — A Chubbuck woman was arrested and has been charged with aggravated assault after police say she attacked another woman with a broken bottle.
Court records show Leandra Jo Thorpe, 31, is facing one felony count of aggravated battery, which carries up to 15 years in prison; and one misdemeanor count of destruction of a telecommunication instrument, punishable by up to one year in prison.
According to a police booking affidavit, the Chubbuck Police Department received a report on Saturday, at about 3 a.m., from a woman stating that Thorpe refused to leave her residence after being told to do so. The caller said that no fight had taken place, but requested assistance from law enforcement.
When officers arrived at the residence on the 5000 block of Josh Way, they said they found two women cut and bleeding and in need of medical attention. One of the women, later identified as Thorpe, was being held down by a man and was bleeding from a cut on her arm, the police report states.
Police say they ordered the man to get off of Thorpe, and then detained her for questioning. While the officers were taking Thorpe away, they said a woman came up to them and told them that Thorpe had attacked her.
The affidavit says the woman who approached the officers had a deep cut on her wrist and multiple cuts on her hand. A steady stream of blood was coming from the cut, the report said, and an officer placed a tourniquet on the woman’s arm to stop the bleeding.
Police say they asked the woman what happened before their arrival, and she claimed that Thorpe had entered her home and had begun complaining about its cleanliness. When Thorpe commented on the woman’s children, she said she told Thorpe to leave the home, but Thorpe became angry.
Police say the woman told them she called 911 for help, but Thorpe smacked the phone out of her hand and struck her in the head.
The woman claimed that Thorpe then grabbed a Corona bottle, broke it and used it to slash at her, according to the affidavit. Wanting to protect herself, the woman told police she put her hands up and got cut by the glass shards.
Police said that while the woman admitted that an altercation between the two women ensued, she told them she did not hit Thorpe while defending herself. Despite her injury, the officers said the woman refused the offer to be taken to a local hospital for medical treatment.
The affidavit says another witness to the fight corroborated what the woman told the officer. When police questioned a second witness, they said he at first invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to speak to them, but later said that he saw the woman get cut by the glass.
Police also questioned the man who had Thorpe pinned down when they arrived. They said he corroborated what the woman had told the officers about Thorpe attacking her, and also told them that Thorpe began to attack others at the home, as well.
EastIdahoNews.com reached out to the Bannock County Public Defender’s Office for comment from Thorpe’s attorney but was advised that no attorney has yet been assigned to Thorpe’s case.
As EMS personnel were treating Thorpe for her injuries at the scene, the affidavit says the officers read Thorpe her Miranda rights and she agreed to speak with them.
Thorpe told officers that she was upset with the living conditions of the woman’s children and that after her comments, the woman began to call the police, the affidavit states. Thorpe said she believed the woman was lying over the phone, which upset her, the document states, and prompted her to smack the woman’s phone out of her hands and punch her.
When the officers asked about the accusations that she broke a beer bottle, they said Thorpe denied that this ever happened.
While in handcuffs, the affidavit says Thorpe told officers: “This all happened because I asked one question.”
The police report says that another officer, who was speaking with a witness, found a broken glass bottle near a tipped-over chair. Blood was seen on the ground near the area of the broken glass, the document states.
Thorpe is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing at 10:30 a.m. on July 2 before Magistrate Judge Todd Garbett.
Though Thorpe has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean she committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.