WESTFIELD – A city man who had recently completed a lengthy prison sentence is back behind bars after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend.
City police had become involved in a domestic situation shortly after midnight on May 31 when officers Jared Rowe and Christopher Coach responded to a report of an intoxicated woman who had pulled a black truck into an East Bartlett Street driveway but was believed to have intentions of continuing to drive.
The officers found the woman exhibited the classic symptoms of alcohol intoxication and she was placed in protective custody but surrendered almost immediately to the custody of her adult son.
A few hours later an East Bartlett Street resident called police to report that a man was dragging a woman from a black truck.
The caller told the emergency dispatcher that she had heard screaming and looked out to see a man attempting to pull a woman through the driver’s window of a black truck. The caller said that she went to call police and, when she returned to her window, saw that the man was then inside the truck and hitting the woman.
The responding officers, Andrew Cekovsky and Matthew Schultze found the woman on East Bartlett Street and observed that the woman had facial injuries and was bleeding.
An ambulance was summoned and the officers went to the indicated apartment to speak with the male party involved in the disturbance.
The officers report that a male party, later identified as Donald G. Cornelius, 56, of 21 E. Bartlett St., came to the door but was argumentative, unruly and declined to allow them entry to his residence.
The man indicated that he had been unhappy that his girlfriend had used his truck while she was intoxicated and became upset when she wanted to use it again.
The woman attempted to walk away from the residence but was restrained to await the ambulance which soon arrived and transported her to Noble Hospital for treatment.
Cornelius was arrested for assault and battery in a domestic relationship.
He appeared in Westfield District Court for arraignment before Judge Philip A. Contant who set his bail at $50,000.
In the court document explaining the reasons for bail, Contant checked nine of the 17 allowable reasons to impose bail including his record of past convictions, history of flight to avoid prosecution and probation status.
In the narrative, Contant wrote “Def(endent) has an extremely long record of criminal convictions for violence, domestic violence and other offenses in Mass and other states.” He went on to note that Cornelius had recently completed “lengthy state prison sentences” and is still on a lengthy probation stemming from a kidnapping conviction.
A records check showed that in 2004 Cornelius had been sentenced to a 9-10 year term in Hampshire County after his arrest on charges which included aggravated assault, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury, assault with intent to murder and kidnapping.
Cornelius will return to Westfield District Court for a hearing on June 30.
