LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lake County correctional officer was taken into custody last week on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge.
Yvette Estelle Padilla, 35, was arrested for battery on a spouse or cohabitant early on the morning of Friday, May 9, according to Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said officers were dispatched to a 19th Street address at around 11:15 p.m. Thursday, May 8, on the report of a domestic altercation. He said two police officers and a supervisor responded to the scene.
When they arrived at the location, the officers contacted a resident in the area who said he heard the occupants of the 19th Street home yelling and what sounded like a physical altercation, Rasmussen said.
The officers contacted the home's two residents, Padilla and a 24-year-old woman who Rasmussen said eventually would be identified as the victim in the case.
Rasmussen said the alleged victim told officers that she had been in an argument with Padilla that escalated into a physical assault.
According to the alleged victim's statement to police, she and Padilla had been in an argument and Padilla became upset and walked out of the bedroom. Rasmussen said the victim told officers she had then locked the bedroom door and sat back down on the bed with a cell phone and TV remote control in her hands.
Padilla then kicked the door open – an action Rasmussen said she later admitted to police that she did – and then grabbed the other woman by the hair, dragging her off the bed and slamming her into the floor repeatedly.
Rasmussen said the alleged victim hit Padilla in the head with the TV remote in an effort to make her let go, then grabbed pepper spray and sprayed Padilla in the face with it before going into the bathroom, locking the door and waiting for police.
Lakeport Fire personnel were later called to the scene to treat Padilla for the pepper spray, Rasmussen said.
In addition to the statements from the two women and the neighbor, during the investigation officers found evidence in the home of a physical altercation. The bedroom was in disarray and appeared consistent with the alleged victim's statement that she had been pulled out of bed and assaulted, according to Rasmussen.
He said Padilla also had an injury to the back of her head – a small lump – consistent with being hit with the TV remote. Rasmussen did not know the cause of an injury to Padilla's forehead that was evident in her mugshot.
Rasmussen said officers determined that it was a domestic violence case with Padilla being the primary aggressor – or the person considered to be responsible for the violence.
The woman Padilla is alleged to have assaulted had complaints of pain, Rasmussen said.
Because of the arrest, “We did take a handgun out of the residence,” said Rasmussen.
He emphasized that the handgun was not involved in the incident. “Any time there is domestic violence we do seize weapons from the residence.”
In addition, police seized the can of pepper spray used on Padilla. Rasmussen said the pink pepper spray can did not appear to be law enforcement issued.
Rasmussen said his officers immediately notified both the sheriff's on duty watch commander and the jail of Padilla's arrest and the fact she was being transported to the jail for booking.
No emergency restraining order was issued against Padilla that night, and Rasmussen said he is not aware of one filed since.
“Our report is complete on the arrest and it’s marked as forwarded to the DA’s Office for review,” said Rasmussen.
Padilla's bail was set at $10,000. Jail records indicated she later posted the necessary portion of bail and was released.
She has a June 16 court appearance in the case, according to her booking sheet.
Editor’s note: Police have clarified that Padilla was slamming the alleged victim’s body – not necessarily her head only – onto the floor.
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