ROGERSVILLE — A Hawkins County woman was charged with aggravated assault early Friday morning after allegedly beating a neighbor over the head with a stick after the neighbor accused her of theft.
Shortly before 2 a.m. Friday, Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Michael Lipe was dispatched to the home of Amy Linde, 228 South Fork Branch Road, Rogersville.
Linde stated that Choya Kay Wilder, 23, 219 South Fork Branch Road, had been at her house earlier in the day. After Wilder left, Linde discovered $37 and her I.D. were missing.
“Amy stated Choya came back to her residence at approximately 1:47 a.m., and she (Linde) confronted her (Wilder) about the missing items,” Lipe stated in his report. “Amy stated Choya became very irate, and they had an argument. Amy stated Choya left the residence, and she (Linde) went back into her bedroom to get an item from the nightstand.”
Lipe added, “She was unaware Choya had come back into the residence. Amy said she bent down, and Choya struck her several times in the head with a wooden stick.”
By the time Lipe arrived, Wilder had reportedly fled the scene on foot. Lipe stated he observed small lacerations with minor bleeding to Linde’s head.
After Lipe left, Wilder allegedly returned to Linde’s residence and began yelling and cursing.
Lipe responded back to the area, but Wilder had fled again, although this time he was able to track her to a nearby barn.
Lipe said Wilder admitted to striking Linde in the head with the stick, which she then threw into the bushes.
After being charged with aggravated assault, Wilder was released from the Hawkins County jail on $5,000 bond and is scheduled for arraignment on July 11.
Wilder was a witness to the June 11 stabbing at Cades Apartments on Main Street on the far east end of Rogersville that occurred June 11.
Rogersville Police Chief Doug Nelson said no charges have been filed in that stabbing.
Wilder and the Cades Apartments resident who did the stabbing both told police that the victim, Joshua Spriggs, assaulted Wilder and then attacked the resident during an altercation inside the apartment leading up to the stabbing.
The resident claimed self-defense, which Wilder reportedly corroborated.
As of Monday, Spriggs remained in Holston Valley Medical Center in critical condition, although Nelson told the Times-News Monday he’d been notified that following several operations Spriggs had “turned a corner” toward recovery.
Nelson said evidence in the stabbing would be presented to the attorney general’s office for a determination on whether it should be presented to the Hawkins County grand jury.