An Elizabethton man was arrested Tuesday after a multi-agency response to a house in the East Side community, where he was accused of assaulting his wife and son and then fleeing the residence on foot.
Mark Gruver, 34, of Daniel Lane, was arrested by Elizabethton Police Department Officer Eric Buck on Tuesday afternoon and charged with two counts of domestic assault.
Officers were first dispatched to the residence on Daniel Lane after a report of a domestic assault.
Buck said in his report that just before his arrival on the scene, officers were advised by the 911 Communications Center that a male subject had fled the residence on foot and were given a description of the suspect.
Early radio transmissions from the 911 Communications Center also reported the possibility of a fire at the residence; due to that report, the Elizabethton Fire Department was also dispatched. Firefighters said no fire was detected.
As Buck responded to the residence to speak with the woman, other Elizabethton Police Department officers began to block off the area, with assistance from the Carter County Sheriff’s Department.
The suspect, who was identified as Gruver, was located a short time later in a nearby wooded area and placed into custody.
Buck said in his report that when he spoke to the woman, she was visibly upset and crying and she told him her husband had come home upset and that the disturbance began at that time.
The woman reported that Gruver punched the air conditioning control panel on the wall, breaking it, and then began yelling at her and demanding money from her.
“(The woman) stated he then got up close to her face before shoving her backwards over a couch,” said Buck in his report, adding that the woman said at that time her son attempted to pull Gruver away from her. The woman said Gruver then began choking her son, and she attempted to separate the two.
“(The woman) advised Mr. Gruver then picked her up and threw her down on the couch,” Buck said in his report. According to the report, the woman said that when Gruver realized police were responding to the residence, he fled the house and ran into the nearby woods.
Gruver is currently being held in the Carter County Detention Center under a $10,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in General Sessions Court on July 14.