An Ocala woman and the man she is accused of battering both hid under their mobile home to avoid being arrested on active warrants.
Amber L. Kaiser, 36, was charged Jan. 13 with simple battery, resisting an officer without violence and four counts of failure to appear in court. The victim was arrested on unrelated charges.
The woman who reported the incident told Marion County sheriff’s deputies she rents a room from Kaiser and the victim. She said she saw Kaiser become angry with the victim for an unknown reason and hit him in the head with an unknown object, according to the sheriff’s office report.
The witness said the victim had his head down with his hands around his head. She said she asked him if he was OK, and he lifted his head and she saw blood gushing down the back of his head. The witness said she told Kaiser and the victim she was going to call the police, and Kaiser became aggressive. She said Kaiser forced her outside the house, causing small cuts to appear on her arms. The witness said she didn’t want to press charges, the report said.
While approaching the residence, a deputy saw a man later identified as the victim run up the stairs to the front porch and into the house, locking all the doors behind him. At this time, the witness told the deputy that both the victim and Kaiser had active warrants, according to the report.
Several deputies arrived and one of them said he is familiar with both Kaiser and the victim and confirmed their identities. The deputies tried to contact them by knocking on the doors and windows and yelling for them to step out. There was no response and no movement inside the house, the report said.
Deputies decided to enter the house by forcing open the rear door but were unable to locate Kaiser and the victim. Back outside, a deputy noticed the skirting on the south side of the trailer was screen. He checked under the house and found Kaiser and the victim hiding. The deputy ordered the two of them to clime back through the crawl space and come out. Kaiser complied and was taken into custody, but the victim crawled further under the home in an effort to hide, according to the report.
Deputies finally talked the victim into emerging from under the house. Medics from Marion County Fire Rescue 28 checked his injuries, which included a small laceration on the back-left side of his head with dried blood surrounding it, the report said.
The victim told the deputy that Kaiser hit him in the head with a metal plate. He said he was not hit hard, but enough to cause the small laceration. The victim didn’t say why Kaiser hit him, according to the report.
After being read her Miranda warning, Kaiser admitted she dragged and forcefully removed the witness from the house but said she didn’t hit the victim with anything. She said he cut his head when he was trying to hide from law enforcement, the report said.
Kaiser is being held in the Marion County Jail on $20,000 bond and will appear in Marion County Court on Feb. 8.