By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Cushing man accused of hitting his ex-girlfriend in the arm with a baseball bat a week before Thanksgiving has been ordered to appear in court on Feb. 4 when he can seek a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of domestic assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
If convicted, Brandon Jeffery Yates, 33, could be given as much as a 10-year prison term, according to the charge filed earlier this month. Yates remains free on $5,000 bail with an order to have no contact with his alleged victim, court records show.
Yates was arrested at 4:02 pm on Nov. 19 at his residence on E. Oak Street by Cushing Police Officer Sara Reynolds, according to her affidavit.
Two and a half hours earlier, the Cushing officer had been notified that Yates’ ex-girlfriend was assaulted and currently in the emergency room in Stillwater, an affidavit alleged.
Yates’ ex-girlfriend said that she and her new boyfriend were getting ready to leave the house when Yates arrived with a baseball bat, the affidavit alleged.
“Yates first hit (the woman’s) window on her house causing it to break. (The woman) said that she and her new boyfriend “began throwing things at Yates trying to get him to stop and that is when Yates hit her in the arm with the baseball bat,” the affidavit alleged.
Asked if her arm was broken, “she stated it was not, but the nurses told her it was probably a deep tissue bruise that may have bruised the bone,” the affidavit alleged.
After the Cushing officer left the emergency room in Stillwater, she went to Yates’ residence where his parents said he was in his bedroom, the affidavit said.
“When Yates stepped outside, he had a bottle of liquor and a cup that he was drinking,” from, the affidavit alleged.
After Yates was arrested, “While I was transporting him to the Cushing Police Department, Yates made comments about (his ex-girlfriend) — stating he loved her more than anything and the new guy she is with is no good for her,” the officer alleged in her affidavit.
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