Elgin Police Officer Douglas James Barton, 41, has been arrested on a domestic violence charge after his girlfriend called 911 in Kershaw County, South Carolina.
Barton was arrested and charged with domestic violence in the second degree after he reportedly assaulted his girlfriend at her home Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews said in a statement.
Deputies were called to the home after a 911 dispatcher received a hang up call around 12:30 p.m. in which they could hear a woman screaming in the background, Matthews said. Minutes later 911 received another call and dispatched deputies to a home.
According to the woman, she and Barton got into an argument which escalated. At one point, while the woman tried to call 911, Barton took her phone and smashed it with a hammer preventing her from calling for help, Matthews said.
The woman said she then tried to leave her home, but Barton held her against her will, assaulted her and threw her to the ground, deputies say. Using another phone, the victim again tried to call 911, but Barton took that phone and broke it as well, Matthews said.
The woman told deputies that Barton placed a pillow over her face to keep her from screaming, grabbed her around the throat and struck her in the face.
Once the woman was able to get away from Barton she ran to a neighbor’s home where she called 911 again, and once on the scene, deputies spoke to the woman as well as Barton who was highly intoxicated, Matthews said.
Barton was arrested and taken to the Kershaw County Detention Center. In addition, he was suspended from his job as a police officer.
