CLERMONT, Fla. – Police officers showed up when paramedics requested help “with a possibly combative patient.” That patient was not the woman described as an “elderly female subject” with “dark purple bruising on her right eye.”
Instead, this arrest report said, “An intoxicated male subject had been located in the common area of the apartment complex,” and, “There was an allegation that the male subject had battered the female subject, and that she had an inactive injunction against him.”
That man, Stephen Chrysler White, had fallen, and he was being taken to the hospital “in reference to the intoxication and injuries sustained during the fall.”
He was also the victim’s ex-husband, who’d come a long way to visit.
With White taken away, one of the officers at the scene in Florida wrote she “immediately observed” the 69-year-old victim — not exactly elderly — was bruised. Then, she learned, this was not their first encounter.
“[She] advised that she remembered me as the officer who called to check on her after a prior incident,” the officer wrote. “We then walked to [her] apartment,” where they spoke for two hours.
“[The victim] stated that approximately two days ago,” the arrest report continued, “Stephen White knocked on her door uninvited, despite having a domestic violence injunction against him. She stated that she allowed him to come inside, although she later maintained that he used the door code to enter the apartment. [The victim] advised that when she saw him at the door, she told him, ‘You can’t come here,’ but then indicated that he could stay if he stayed sober. [The victim] advised that while staying at her apartment, Stephen began drinking alcohol. She further stated that she believed he was drunk at the time of his arrival.”
White actually arrived at the victim’s door after spending the previous 38 days in jail. The “prior incident” she referred to was his domestic violence arrest on Nov. 2. Before that, he had traveled 2,500 miles from his home in California.
On the morning of Dec. 12, the arrest report said, “[The victim] and Stephen began arguing while they were both drinking alcohol. [The victim] explained that although she was previously married to Stephen, she currently identifies as gay. She advised that Stephen becomes upset when she talks about this. [The victim] recalled that earlier in the day, Stephen called her a ‘f****** b****.’
“During the argument, Stephen hit her in the right eye with his closed fist. He then pushed her and she fell to the floor of the apartment, on her hands and knees. [The victim] advised that she lifted her hands upward to protect her face and asked Stephen to not hit her again, adding, ‘We can’t do this again.’ Stephen told her, ‘You deserve everything I’m going to give you.’ [The victim] used the small television stand in the living room to pull herself up.
“After she stood, she observed Stephen fall over due to his intoxication. [The victim] then assisted Stephen into the bathroom so that he could attempt to sober up. [The victim] advised that she contacted 911 but that she ‘hung up’ after Stephen stated, ‘You cannot call the police.’”
According to the officer, “While I was present with [the victim], I observed her act fearful that Stephen would suddenly return and walk in the door, referencing that she believed he would hurt her again.”
She also had another concern.
“[The victim] advised that she was also fearful that I would arrest her,” the officer continued. “[The victim] denied that she had done anything wrong or hit Stephen at any time during the incident. When I asked her why she was fearful of arrest, she advised that in California, law enforcement would frequently arrest her after she would report domestic violence incidents.
“[The victim] advised that she was previously the victim of domestic violence at the hands of Stephen, and that she one time had severe injuries, causing her to require brain surgery due to injury to her skull. She advised that the surgery occurred in approximately May 2023. [The victim] also detailed one time when Stephen was drowning her dog in front of her when they lived in Arizona, and she attempted to stop him. [The victim] advised that there is a permanent active domestic violence injunction in place from the California court system.”
There is no record of the victim being arrested or facing charges in Lake County.
While they were speaking, the officer heard from a colleague at the hospital, “White was making allegations that he was the victim of domestic violence.” The officers spoke among themselves to clarify what really happened.
“He informed me,” the other officer reported, “in some in substance, that he was in the apartment with his wife (said they were married in Mexico) and they had been drinking. He said she gets nasty when she is drunk. He said she punched him in the face hard. I observed that Stephen had a fat lip and crusted blood on and around his upper lip. He said his nose had been bleeding. He also informed me he fell down. He told me that he did not want to press charges because he loved her.”
That other officer continued, “When I learned that the female half denied hitting him and alleged he hit her, I went back to speak [to] Stephen. I asked Stephen if the injury on his face could have been from his fall, but he was adamant that the facial injury was caused by his wife punching him in the face. He denied hitting her and again informed me, several times, that he did not want to press charges. He also then admitted that he was aware there was an order barring him from seeing her. But he said that she contacted him because she was afraid of upcoming hurricanes (in the past) and that is why he came to be with her. Stephen appeared to be intoxicated. I could smell alcohol on or coming from him, his words were labored or slurred at times, and he admitted he had been drinking.”
The officer with the victim noticed throughout their two-hour talk, “The coloring of her bruise changed greatly.” First, it was dark. Then, “By the time the interview concluded, the coloring of the bruise had lightened considerable. Due to the drastic change in coloration in my presence, I believed that this injury had occurred today and was not several weeks old. … She declined to be checked out by EMS.”
Next, the officer went to the hospital and saw on the court website, “One of the domestic violence cases against Stephen White still showed a valid No Victim Contact in place between him and [the victim],” she wrote. “The case was still open and there were no court records showing that the No Victim Contact Order had been dismissed. I also accessed the PDF showing the original No Victim Contact from Nov. 2, 2024, where the judge had signed the No Victim Contact into place.”
Also, she wrote about seeing a “Protection Order Record out of California regarding Stephen White, with the protected person being listed as [the victim]. The order advised the following: “THE SUBJECT IS RESTRAINED FROM ASSAULTING, THREATENING, ABUSING, HARASSING, FOLLOWING, INTERFERING, OR STALKING THE PROTECTED PERSON AND/OR THE CHILD OF THE PROTECTED PERSON.”
With those pieces of information, she visited White, who told her, “He was spending time with his ‘wife,’ [the victim]. He advised that he understood there was an active injunction against him and that he was not supposed to be at the apartment. He advised that he has nowhere else to go, and that [the victim] bonded him out of Lake County Jail, so he went to the apartment. Stephen denied that the No Victim Contact Order was still in effect, advising that [the victim] had requested the order to be dropped.
“Stephen denied hitting [the victim] at any time the past two days while he was at the apartment. He advised it on today’s date, [the victim] was drunk. When I inquired if they were both drinking alcohol, he stated they were. He advised that they were not in an argument, but that [the victim] suddenly ‘punched’ him in the face. He advised that he was bleeding out of his nose and had a swollen lip. I did observe at that time that Stephen’s upper lip was swollen, although any bleeding had since stopped.
“When I asked Stephen if they were arguing about [the victim] being gay, he strongly denied this. Stephen advised that he has no issue with [the victim] being gay. He stated there was no argument at all, and he was unsure why she punched him, adding that she sometimes becomes ‘nasty’ when she drinks.“
He continued with a number of excuses.
“Stephen then mentioned that [the victim] frequently falls and that he calls this phenomenon ‘dropsy.’ He then stated that she ‘always falls down when I…’ He paused and then stated, ‘I didn’t touch her at all.’ Stephen advised that after being punched, he walked downstairs to the common area of the apartment complex to check the mail. While there, he fell into the bushes and was unable to stand up. Stephen denied seeing a black eye on [the victim] the day before or that morning, and stated he was unsure how she obtained it. He did claim that when [the victim] falls on the ground, she ‘rubs’ her face into the floor to injure herself, so that she can claim he battered her. Stephen claimed that [the victim] frequently lies about him when she drinks. He denied striking her at any time. Stephen was fully cooperative with law enforcement during my interaction with him.”
Cooperative, but not necessarily believable. He was discharged from the hospital and then arrested, just two days after his release.
“It should also be noted,” the officer wrote, “that when I advised Stephen that he would not be allowed to return to the apartment, he advised again that this was the only place he had to live. Stephen did not appear to accept that he is no longer allowed to have contact with his ex-wife or to stay at this residence.”
Details on White’s Nov. 2 arrest on similar charges are not included in that arrest report.
It simply said there was “a report of a female that had fallen and sustained injuries. Upon arrival, officers met with [the victim] and Stephen, to which Stephen subsequently was arrested for domestic battery against [the victim].”
It also said authorities found “two active protection orders against him. Both of the protection orders are from California and they both show the protected person as [the victim], who is also the victim in the original incident. It should be noted that both injunctions show that Stephen was in fact served, thus making him aware they were in place and active.”
The first, served on May 23, 2023, was supposed to last three years: “The subject is restrained from assaulting, threatening, abusing, harassing, following, interfering, or stalking the protected person and/or the child of the protected person. The subject is restrained for making any communication with the protected person, including but not limited to personal, written, or telephone contact, or their employers, employees or fellow workers, or others with whom the communication would be likely to cause annoyance or alarm the victim.”
The second, served on May 10, 2024, was also supposed to last three years. It restated just the first sentence.
Announcement of No Information, Dec. 10, 2024 by Lenny Cohen on Scribd
On Nov. 2, White, 74, was charged with two counts of violation of an injunction for protection against domestic violence, and he signed that new No Victim Contact Order. Records show that on Nov. 20, he was charged with domestic battery on a person 65 or older. What happened with that last charge is not certain.
The injunction charges were dropped on Dec. 10. Prosecutors had decided, “Although the evidence is legally sufficient, either the facts of the case make conviction at trial unlikely, or continued prosecution would not be an appropriate use of resources.”
This time, two days later, he’s charged with domestic battery on a person 65 or older, violation of a domestic violence injunction, and violation of his pretrial release conditions.
He has not gotten out of jail.
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