A man wanted on a bench warrant was recently arrested for the charge and on a count of aggravated assault after he allegedly choked a woman during a dispute.
According to a copy of a Douglas Police Department incident report, on December 20, an officer responded to a residence on Cecil Way in Douglas after being informed of a possible assault. When the officer arrived, she was told that the suspect, 56-year-old Willie Thames of Douglas, was walking down the street away from his residence.
The officer reported that she noticed the victim, a 43-year-old female, standing outside the front door shouting at Thames. She stated that she approached Thames and asked him for his ID, and he told her it was at his home. When the officer and Thames returned to the residence, “all parties on the scene began to argue.”
Thames was asked to step outside and speak to another on-scene officer while the reporting officer talked to a witness of the alleged offense. The man reported that he had just returned from the grocery store and advised that Thames had been drinking liquor and smoking crack. He stated that he was sitting at the dinner table when Thames approached him, then pushed him off the seat and onto the floor.
According to the witness, the female victim came up to him, and at that point, Thames “grabbed her by the neck and began to choke her.” The officer asked the victim, who was in her bedroom, if she needed medical assistance. She stated that her “neck was still hot, but she was fine.” The report says that the officer observed red marks on the right side of her neck.
The victim reported that they had just gotten back from the grocery store before “they” began to argue. According to the officer, the victim “would not tell her directly that Thames had choked her” but stated that she could see marks and that the victim “kept grabbing her neck.”
Thames spoke to the other officer on the scene and told the officer that the male witness “kept opening his bedroom door.” He stated that he got up to tell him to stop and that the man “came toward him, so he shoved him down.” Thames also alleged that the man grabbed a bowl and threw it at him.
According to the report, Thames did not mention the assault on the female victim while speaking to the officer.
Thames was taken into custody on one count of aggravated assault and a bench warrant for possession of a drug-related object. The warrant accuses Thames of possessing a glass pipe in June 2022.
A copy of the Coffee County Jail roster on Tuesday morning shows that Thames is still in custody and has not been released.