A local man is accused of beating his girlfriend.
Joshua Rainingbird is charged with felony partner or family member assault.
Joshua Rainingbird (Hill County Detention Center booking photo)
He is being held in the Hill County Detention Center on $6,000 in bonds and is scheduled to appear for an arraignment hearing, during which he will plead guilty or not guilty, on March 2 at 9:30 a.m.
Here’s what happened, according to charging documents:
A woman called police on Jan. 27 to report she’d been assaulted by her boyfriend, Rainingbird.
Officers met the woman at Gary and Leo’s Fresh Foods grocery.
She told officers that she and Rainingbird had been at her house, drinking alcohol.
At some point, Rainingbird became hostile, so she left the house. He followed her to the loading docks by Gary and Leo’s grocery.
He caught up to her and slammed her into the ground, the woman said. She tried to push Raininbird’s hands away from her, but “he continued to fight and punched her in the mouth at least once.”
She escaped and went into the store, where she called 911 from the service counter.
The officer noticed the woman had a cut on the inside of her lip.
About a half-hour after responding to the 911 call, an officer found Rainingbird on a transit bus. He asked Rainingbird to get off the bus and talk.
Rainingbird, who had a bloody nose, told police that “nothing happened.” He said he didn’t remember how he got the bloody nose but added that he and his girlfriend drank a lot that afternoon.
Rainingbird was arrested.
Police reviewed Rainingbird’s criminal record and found two prior partner or family member assault offenses, both in 2018 and both in Hill County.
On Feb. 5, District Court Judge Kaydee Snipes Ruiz approved a restraining order against Rainingbird. The order instructs him not to have any contact — in-person or electronically — with the woman.
Rainingbird is presumed innocent of the charges unless he is found guilty or pleads guilty.
Write to Paul Dragu at [email protected]
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