An argument over a DVD player landed a Navarre man in jail on Simple Assault and Property Damage charges last week after a woman alleged the man jumped on the hood of her vehicle, denting it during a fit of rage.
The man, later identified as Thomas Phouthavong, 26, was arrested following the incident and given $2,500 bond, which he later posted.
According to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, SRSO deputies were called out to a disturbance back on June 13 on Valerie Lane in Navarre and upon arrival met with Phouthavong’s mother-in-law at her residence.
The woman alleged that Phouthavong started screaming and yelling in her face earlier that evening and she told the man to hit her so she could call law enforcement, the report stated.
Phouthavong had allegedly became irate earlier that evening over a missing DVD player inside of the home, according to one witness who was in the home when the incident occurred. The witness alleged Phouthavong got aggravated at a woman in the residence who was allegedly upset over the missing item.
The mother-in-law told the responding deputy that during Phouthavong’s outburst, he got in her face and called her a “cop calling bitch” and she went out onto the home’s front porch to get away from the Phouthavong. According to the arrest report, the victim stated that once she was on the front porch, Phouthavong came out and got in her face and started spitting in her face as she tried to avoid him.
She stated Phouthavong then left the front porch and walked onto the hood of the victim’s vehicle and started jumping on it several times, causing the hood to dent in several spots, the report indicated. The action caused an estimated $1,000 in damage to the vehicle.
When the deputy asked the mother-in-law if she felt scared for her life, she told the law enforcement officer that she did and claimed “she can’t even sleep at night because of how (Phouthavong) treats her”, the report stated.
A witness who was inside of the home when the incident took place stated that Phouthavong had gotten into an argument with someone inside the home over a DVD player and that the argument sparked the alleged chain of events. The witness stated the suspect knocked over a number of things inside of the home and ripped the thermostat controls for the A/C unit off of the wall inside of the home, the report indicated.
According to Santa Rosa County Jail View Records, Phouthavong has an extensive criminal history, which includes at least 4 arrests within the past year.
