An Anthony man was arrested early Sunday morning after attempting to keep a woman from calling 911 from her home in Fort McCoy.
Shane Michael Mester, 37, was taken into custody after a woman at a home on NE 77th Street tried to call for help during a verbal altercation, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office report states.
While she was attempting to speak with a 911 operator, Mester took the woman’s cell phone away from her and was heard yelling that she could not talk on the phone, the report says.
When deputies arrived, Mester was yelling into a cell phone and refused to hang up when asked to do so. He continued to remain uncooperative while deputies were speaking with the woman who called for help.
The woman told deputies that Mester came to her house and became angry when she asked him to leave because of his behavior. The woman said Mester walked outside to talk to one of her neighbors and then came back inside the house and pushed her approximately three times, the report says.
The woman said Mester then grabbed her arm and took her phone after she told him she was calling 911. She said he refused to allow her to use the phone to communicate that she needed help.
Deputies checked the woman’s phone and verified she had called 911 at 2:13 a.m. They also spoke with witnesses at the residence who confirmed the woman’s statements.
When deputies approached Mester to take him into custody, he tensed up and tried to pull away. And when deputies took him to the ground, he grabbed their legs in an attempt to gain an advantage, the report says.
Mester was transported to the Marion County Jail and booked on charges of battery, battery on an officer, resisting or obstructing an officer without violence and obstructing justice/tampering in a third-degree felony proceeding. He was held on $6,000 bond.
Mester also was arrested on Feb. 25 on a battery charge and has a prior battery conviction from July 2005.