Lost keys lead to assault charges
Smashed Skyy vodka bottles hurled at a 1994 Cadillac, an iron thrown through an apartment window and a kicked-over scooter were the end result of two women arguing over a set of keys, according to a police arrest report.
Lakela D. Bonner, 29, and Lakendra J. Taylor, 31, both of Chattanooga, were both arrested and charged with domestic assault and vandalism Sunday, according to the Chattanooga Police Department report.
Bonner and Taylor, who have been together for two years as a couple and share a child together, began arguing over a set of keys, the report said. Bonner said she lost a set of keys belonging to Taylor, according to the report.
The argument escalated, with Bonner kicking over Taylor's scooter, causing $500 in damage. Bonner retaliated by throwing Skyy vodka bottles at Taylor's 1994 Cadillac, breaking out the driver's side window and damaging the front windshield, an estimated $900 in damage.
Taylor then tossed an iron through Bonner's apartment window causing about $100 in damage, the report said. Both women told police they were attacked by the other and they fought in self-defense, according to the report.
Their child was staying with an aunt at the time of the fight, according to reports.
Taylor declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday.
Car was speeding in fatal wreck
The car wreck that killed two teenagers and left one in critical condition on Feb. 10 was caused by excessive speed, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
Timothy Katafias, 18, died as a result of injuries he sustained after driving a car almost twice the speed limit on Fairview Road near Chickamauga Lake, according to sheriff's spokeswoman Janice Atkinson. The speed limit on Fairview ranges between 30 and 35 mph.
As the car went over a hill and into a sharp turn, Katafias lost control of the vehicle -- a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis -- sending it airborne and into a tree, Atkinson said.
Katafias' sister, 16-year-old Hixson High School student Torri Aileen Katafias, was killed in the crash. Her boyfriend, 18-year-old Craig Albert Lemay, has since been released from Erlanger hospital after he was treated for critical injuries. None of the three was wearing a seat belt.
Investigators determined Katafias was driving between 57 and 62 mph.
No mechanical problems, road designs or adverse surface conditions contributed to the crash, and there is no evidence Katafias was intoxicated or distracted, Atkinson said.
Such accidents aren't unusual for the area. Nearby resident Ray Weir said he had seen about nine in the 16 years he has lived on the road that many describe as full of "thrill hills."
Man accused of aiming pistol at deputy
A 58-year-old Soddy-Daisy man accused of pointing a gun at a deputy's stomach posted a $10,500 bond hours after his arrest, according to court records.
James Roger Sells, who goes by "Roger" in his voice mail message, was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest Friday night. He did not return several phone messages Tuesday.
The incident began when Sells summoned a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy to deal with a neighbor's threats "to keep his dog off the property or he will have to shoot it," according to the arrest report from Deputy David McCann.
Sells and the neighbor live on McGill Road, located near the Sale Creek community.
"Mr. Sells wanted me to go to the neighbor and tell him that he could not kill his dog," an arrest report states.
McCann refused and asked Sells to obey Hamilton County's "leash law" or keep the dog within a fenced enclosure, but Sells refused, claiming his dog would not hurt anyone's animals, the report states.
The deputy left, but afterward, Sells began phoning the neighbors and "sounded intoxicated," according to the report. This time, the neighbors called the sheriff's office.
McCann returned to Sells' home, knocked on the front door and, through the glass, saw Sells standing about three feet away, brandishing a pistol "with the weapon pointed toward my stomach area," the report states.
"I finally told him I was going to shoot him if he did not put the gun down," McCann writes in the report.