TEXARKANA, Texas–Bonds totaling $165,000 have been set for a Texarkana, Ark., man accused of punching an 11-year-old boy while he tried to call 911 for his mother on Sunday night.
Joseph Sauls III, 41, had allegedly “badly beaten” a woman at a residence in the 3700 block of Trotter Lane when Texarkana Texas Police Department officers responded to a disturbance call, according to a probable cause affidavit. Officers were told by emergency dispatchers that they could hear a woman, a man and children shouting during a 911 call from a woman that ended with a hangup.
The woman, who had also been heard crying on the call, did not answer when dispatchers attempted to call her back two times. While officers were on their way, the woman called for help again and requested an ambulance, telling them that Sauls was drunk, had “jumped on her kids,” possibly had a weapon and was driving away in her white Kia, according to the affidavit.
As he approached, an officer observed a white Kia traveling down Galloping Way near Trotter Drive and attempted to stop it as it pulled into a nearby driveway. Sauls allegedly backed out around the cruiser, getting ahead of it briefly. The officer reportedly found the Kia abandoned at the intersection of Trotter and Galloping Way and immediately noticed a person who looked like Sauls sitting in the driver’s seat of a black GMC Yukon.
When the officer approached the Yukon, Sauls allegedly jumped out and fled on foot only to be caught after the officer deployed a pepper spray gun, the affidavit alleges. Once Sauls was in custody, officers spoke to the woman, who told them Sauls came to her home that night around 10 p.m. and that she had asked him to leave because he was drinking.
Sauls had allegedly grabbed the woman by the hair and punched her several times in the face. When her 11-year-old son attempted to call 911, Sauls allegedly punched him in the face and took the phone. Officers reportedly observed a fresh injury to the boy’s mouth.
In a rear floorboard of the Yukon, an upright open bottle of beer and methamphetamine were allegedly found while an unopened bottle of beer in a paper sack was recovered from the Kia.
Sauls has been charged with misdemeanor interference with an emergency call and family violence assault along with felony charges of injury to a child, evading arrest in a vehicle and possession of a controlled substance. He was also wanted on an Arkansas parole warrant at the time.
Sauls is currently being held in the Bowie County jail.
