- A West Jordan man was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman on Monday.
- Arnold Nelson, 53, is accused of using a stick and hammer or tomahawk in the attack.
- Nelson was arrested for investigation of aggravated assault.
WEST JORDAN — A West Jordan man was arrested Monday after police say he tried to "mark" a woman using a stick and either a hammer or a tomahawk.
Arnold Nelson, 53, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of aggravated assault resulting in serious injury, destruction of property, damaging a phone and unlawful detention.
Police were called Monday afternoon to a domestic violence incident. Officers responded to a home in West Jordan and found an injured woman down the road from the address.
"When I made contact with the victim, she was stumbling towards me, with blood covering her hair, face, arms and clothes," a police booking affidavit states.
A witness told police that "he saw Arnold hitting the victim multiple times with a large stick, and what appeared to be a hammer or a tomahawk knife, all over her body," according to the affidavit. "The witness advised that he also saw Arnold take the victim's phone and smash it on the ground, breaking it during the incident."
Nelson, however, told police that there was another man at the residence with a gun who had injured the woman.
"I attempted to get more information from Arnold about the incident, but he continued to provide conflicting statements about what had happened," according to the affidavit.
Officers later talked to the woman while she was receiving treatment at a local hospital.
"The victim advised that Arnold had psychiatric problems and had been previously checked into a facility for treatment because he was seeing demons," the affidavit states. The woman further told police that she and Nelson were living together, and that he had gotten angry with her that morning over something the woman had no idea what he was talking about.
"Later in the day, Arnold came into her room holding a large stick and a hammer and told her that he was going to 'mark her' and slapped her in the face. Arnold then told her to go into the backyard so he could 'mark her,'" according to the affidavit. "Once outside, Arnold began hitting the victim with the stick and the hammer repeatedly all over her body."
Nelson smashed the woman's phone as she was screaming for help, police stated.
"Further down the road, a hammer and a large stick were found," the affidavit states.
Police noted in the affidavit that "hospital staff who were evaluating the victim advised that she had injuries all over her body, and were not sure if the victim needed stitches on her head at this time due to the amount of blood covering the wounds," according to the affidavit. Officers say the woman was in too much pain to give them a written statement on Monday about what happened.
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