BAINBRIDGE, Ohio — A local man was arrested on assault charges after he struck another man on the head with a piece of wood while trying to protect his pit bull during a chaotic confrontation at a residence, authorities said.
Donald Collett, who lives in a camper on the property, was taken into custody late Wednesday following the incident at a home on State Route 41 in Bainbridge, according to a report from the Ross County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Joshua O’Bomsawin, the responding officer, said Collett admitted to the strike, telling him he did so because the other man was hitting his dog.
The altercation began around 7:57 p.m. when Collett’s white pit bull got loose and began chasing the victim around the yard, acting aggressively toward him, the report states. The victim, whose name was redacted in the report, grabbed a nearby 2-by-4 piece of wood to defend himself from the dog, swinging it to keep the animal at bay.
Collett then intervened, grabbing his own piece of wood and striking the victim on the top of the head, causing a minor cut, O’Bomsawin wrote in his investigative notes. “I struck her with a piece of wood,” Collett initially told the deputy, though the report clarifies the victim was a male. When pressed, Collett said, “Yes, because he was hitting my dog.”
Leona Hickman, the resident of the main house on the property, witnessed the incident and provided security camera footage that corroborated the victim’s account, according to the report. The video showed Collett conversing with the victim near a blue truck in the driveway when the pit bull broke free and charged at the man. The victim bent down to grab a piece of wood from the ground and began swinging it at the dog, while Collett picked up another piece and struck the victim in the head on his first swing. Collett continued following the victim, eventually throwing the wood at him, before regaining control of the dog and putting it back on its chain.
“I did not see the dog loose and Donald going after it,” Hickman told O’Bomsawin, describing how she heard yelling and screaming from inside her home before stepping out onto the porch. She said the whole incident was captured on her cameras.
The victim declined medical attention for the head wound and chose not to fill out a voluntary statement form, the report notes. He told the deputy he was simply trying to protect himself from the dog and had no prior issues noted in the incident.
O’Bomsawin detained Collett at the scene after he initially resisted, attempting to step back toward his camper. The deputy placed Collett in handcuffs and into his cruiser before continuing the investigation. Collett was later arrested for simple assault under Ohio statute 2903.13, a misdemeanor, and transported to the Ross County Jail for booking.