By Alana Bleimann
SACRAMENTO – Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time, but a Sacramento man apparently tried to hide a narcotic smoking pipe inside his rectum after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend in their home with a heavy drinking glass.
In a Sacramento County Superior Court preliminary hearing last week for Ernest Knox, peace officer witness Dalton Ford was questioned by Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Maroun and Assistant Public Defender Pamela Jean Dominisse for further details in the defendant’s charges of assault with a deadly weapon and corporal injury.
“As soon as I arrived I was contacted by the victim and I assessed her injuries,” said officer Ford, who was called to an apartment complex in July of this year at about 8 p.m.
Officer Ford, in response to a question by defense counsel Dominisse, said that when he arrived, the victim “did appear to be injured, holding a large bath towel to her forehead and I could see blood on her shirt”.
The injuries appeared to be serious and were treated with multiple stitches at a hospital, he said.
In fact, Ford noted that when she removed the bath towel, he could see a “4-5 inch vertical laceration on the rightmost side of her face near her eyebrow…it was very deep and exposed muscle and 
fat tissue…also had swelling to her left side of her face that was the size of a baseball.”
These injuries were a result of “a six-inch tall heavy (drinking) glass,” he said.
Officer Ford relayed to the court that the victim’s boyfriend, the defendant Knox, had hit her on the head after a verbal disagreement occurred inside the apartment.
The details of the verbal disagreement were not disclosed, although Knox allegedly was using drugs that day, causing the argument to start.
Additionally, the victim claimed Knox “was acting paranoid saying that the authorities were out to get him” and that his overall behavior was unusual.
As the argument was happening, the victim’s son overheard from outside the apartment complex and tried to get inside in order to defend his mother.
The victim tried to open the front door but Knox was standing in the way, not allowing it, so “She (the victim) shoved him (Knox) out of the way from the door to allow her son to gain entry to the apartment”, Officer Ford stated.
When she was finally able to open the door she was struck with the drinking glass.
The whereabouts and further actions of the son were not described.
When officer Ford was speaking from the victim, he noticed “a lot of blood on the ground and a broken glass….Knox was in the dining room kitchen area on the ground…there were several broken items around the apartment complex.”
Even though Knox had no visible injuries on his body, according to officer Ford, “he was sweating profusely and was asking for help.”
Public defender Dominisse argued that “Knox needed to go to the hospital due to the injuries he suffered,” even though officer Ford did not recall seeing any lacerations or injuries on him at that time. It was not known how these alleged injuries on Knox occurred nor who made them.
While at the hospital, “during an overall CT scan of the defendant (doctors) located what appeared to be a narcotic smoking pipe in his rectum.” The pipe appeared to be one used for “smoking street drugs” and was removed from Knox’s body and booked as evidence.
After the initial and cross-examinations, Judge Steven M. Gevercer ordered a new protective order for the victim and found “probable cause to believe that counts one and two were committed and that both felonies were committed and that personal injury was inflicted.”
An arraignment for the defendant is set for December of this year.
Alana Bleimann is a junior at the University of San Francisco majoring in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice Studies. She is from Raleigh, North Carolina.
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