Police: Drunk Seymour man battered girlfriend, baby
COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) – A Seymour man was arrested this week after police say he battered his girlfriend and their 2-month-old child at a shopping mall.
Columbus Police Department officers were called to the 2200 block of 25th Street around 7:15 p.m. about a disturbance. When they tried to speak with the suspect, 27-year-old Dustin M. Keefer, they say he fled on foot into the mall parking lot.
Officers were able to apprehend Keefer, who they said appeared intoxicated. He was given a portable breath test and blew a .324 percent.
A witness who police spoke with reported hearing a woman screaming for help in the parking lot and saw Keefer striking the woman while she was holding the baby. The victim told police Keefer had been drinking all day and threw a cigarette lighter inside their vehicle that hit the baby in the head. She said that led to an argument where Keefer reportedly grabbed the baby and dragged her out of the car seat by her leg. Medics checked out the 2-month-old at the scene and released her to her mother.
Keefer was transported to the Bartholomew County where he’s facing preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement, public intoxication, neglect of a dependent, battery on a victim under 14 years of age and domestic battery in the presence of a minor.
