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January 15, 2013

Woman faces charges after Walmart parking lot incident

BY ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Relationship troubles led to quite a scene in one of the area’s busiest parking lots, and a Traverse City woman faces criminal charges for her role in the incident.

Heather E. Kaley, 22, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault and domestic violence. She was arraigned Monday and is free on bond.

Grand Traverse sheriff’s Capt. Randy Fewless said Kaley and her live-in boyfriend got into a fight in the Walmart parking lot off South Airport Road on Jan 10. Kaley was mad because her boyfriend deliberately broke her phone, so she began to punch and choke him, a witness said.

He got inside the passenger seat of their car and shut the door, and Kaley hopped in the driver’s seat. She put the car in gear and began to speed off, and her boyfriend opened the door to get out. He later told police he was trying to get away from continued fighting.

A rear wheel ran over his leg, and a witness said she then began to “accelerate rapidly in reverse” toward her boyfriend in an apparent attempt to run him over. He jumped in a snowbank to avoid her car.

Deputies later arrested Kaley at her home. Her boyfriend was adamant that charges not be pressed, Fewless said.

He had a deep gash in one of his legs, but refused medical treatment.

The boyfriend is lucky he escaped with just that injury, Fewless said.

“He easily could have been fatally injured if the car had run over his head instead of his ankle,” he said.

The boyfriend told deputies he and Kaley were embroiled in conflict regarding possible infidelity, though the extent of Kaley’s behavior over a broken cellphone was disappointing, Fewless said.

“The fact that this is over a piece of property that got broken, that she would escalate the situation and get physical and violent ... is pretty unfortunate,” he said.

Kaley could not be reached for comment.

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