Cops: Woman battled officers after leaving crash scene
A 38-year-old Fairfield woman faces charges after police said she left the scene of an accident and then kicked and spit at police officers attempting to take her into custody just after midnight Sunday morning.
Holly Bittman struck another car in rear and fled the scene to her Mona Terrace home, followed by the driver of the car she struck, police said. When the other driver pulled up to Bittman’s house, he said she began to scream and yell and threaten him and pound on the hood of his car, prompting him to call 911, according to the report.
Bittman told police it was the other driver who had threatened her, police said.
When officers asked Bittman if she’d been in an accident, she replied that she might have been. She allegedly told one officer to leave, and then invited another officer into her house for drinks, according to the report. It’s also alleged that Bittman hit an officer in the chest with an open hand, and was belligerent and uncooperative.
After she was placed in the back seat of the patrol car, the report stated that she began kicking at the windows. An officer opened the patrol car door, and Bittman then kicked him in the chest with the heel of her boot, he said. She also spat at two officers, according to the report.
During processing at police headquarters, Bittman refused to take off her jewelry as requested and tried to grab her watch back from police, according to the report.
Bittman was charged with assault on a police officer, interfering with a police officer, breach of peace and evading responsibility. She was initially given a $2,500 bond, but the bail commissioner reduced it to a promise to appear March 14 in Bridgeport Superior Court.
Westmont police are investigating a Thursday car accident after a car drove into a house along the 100 block of West 67th Street, injuring the driver who they claim was fleeing the scene of a previous accident.
A two-month-old Marshalltown boy remains in serious condition following a Wednesday accident in which a SUV crashed into a basement apartment.Police said Lah Paw, 25, who has a driver’s permit but was driving alone, accidentally accelerated in a parking lot, confusing the gas pedal with the break pedal, and drove into the apartment at 306 Plaza Heights Road. The accident occurred at approximately 2:15 p.m.Htoo (Jolly) Paw, the infant, was in the apartment along with five other people when the SUV crashed. The baby was seriously injured, according to police, and airlifted to a Des Moines hospital. A spokesperson with Blank Children’s Hospital said Thursday afternoon that he was listed in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit.The others who were in the apartment at the time of the accident had varying degrees of injuries and were transported to Marshalltown Medical Surgical Center by ambulance, where they were treated and released. Those injured were Tin Hla, 49, Shwe Nyunt, unknown age, Day Day, 29, Kaw Kaw, 40 and another woman named Lah Paw, age unknown.Capt. Mike Hanken, of the Marshalltown Police Department, said the vehicle was hung up on brick block walls when it collided with the building, which prevented it from collapsing down on the people in the apartment. When officers arrived, the people inside the apartment were trapped, he said, but were able to escape from underneath the vehicle.The driver is not likely to receive charges because the accident occurred on private property, Hanken said, however the accident will be reported to the Iowa Department of Transportation.”We’ll continue to look for applicable charges, but we can’t claim it was reckless driving because it was inexperience in operating a motor vehicle,” Hanken said. “The accident will likely have an impact on whether she is granted a valid license.”The building, owned by Christy Steelsmith, sustained approximately $40,000 in damages and the Nissan Pathfinder had about $7,000 in damages, he said.The Marshalltown Police Department released details of the accident Thursday morning.
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