Ooltewah man rams car, injures ex-girlfriend, child

photo Edwin Ammons

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A 49-year-old Ooltewah man is in the Hamilton County Jail after crashing his ex-girlfriend's early morning Labor Day grilling party with his taxi.

Police said it was early Monday morning when Edwin Ammons sent a parked SUV flying, hitting his ex-girlfriend Shavona Reed, who was holding their child.

A Chattanooga Police Department incident report shows the fight started when Ammons showed up uninvited to a grill-out on Fourth Avenue around 4 a.m. and began to argue with several guests.

When Reed tried to leave the house carrying their child, witnesses said Ammons became angry and floored the taxi's gas pedal, jerking the wheel left. As the taxi spun out of control it slammed into Reed's parked SUV.

The police report states the SUV jutted forward, knocking Reed and the child eight feet backward.

With a smashed window, Ammons jumped out of the taxi, and witnesses told police he drew a knife. Several men tried to stop Ammons and were cut in the process, police were told.

When police arrived, Ammons told the officers he didn't mean to hurt anyone. He said he believed one of the men at the house, 47-year-old Daniel Gantt, was going to hurt him so he tried to run the man over, accidentally hitting Reed and his child.

Ammons also told police he didn't know how his knife got out of its sheath and outside the taxi.

But police said that, based on statements of witnesses who saw the fight, Ammons was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault, aggravated child abuse and reckless endangerment.

Gantt, who declined to comment, didn't require medical attention, while Reed and her child were treated for bruises and cuts, according to police.

Ammons' bond has been set at $255,000, records show.

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