Dispute over Squash Leads to Charges
Linda M. Childs, a 32-year-old resident of Muskegon, was recently charged with one count of felony assault after allegedly slicing a man’s arm open following an altercation that revolved around how to prepare squash.
According to police records, police officers and firefighters were dispatched at about 9:15 pm on Friday evening to a home on E. Center Road in Hampton Township for a man who had apparently sustained a knife wound.
When the officers arrived they discovered blood on the front porch and a blood trail that led back into the kitchen. Once inside, officers found Donald L. Gillard Jr, a resident of the house, with a 2 ½ ” wound on his left arm.
In his testimony, he explained that he had been upstairs when he overheard Childs and another resident, Joseph Haranda, arguing over how to prepare squash. According to Gillard, he went downstairs on three separate occasions to tell the two to stop fighting, and to tell Childs to leave Haranda alone. But on the last occasion, Childs grabbed a kitchen knife and, as Gilland attempted to flee the room and shut the door behind him, Childs stabbed his arm.
Haranda and others who were present at the time in the house all told similar versions of the events to police, and Childs was arrested. Haranda told police that Childs had grown impatient with his methods while he was slicing squash in the kitchen and had begun to complain loudly.
When officers spoke with Childs, she claimed that she didn’t know what had happened and denied having done anything wrong. When in court, Childs told Bay County Chief District Judge Timothy J. Kelly that she was suffering from mental health issues. However, when asked what she was being treated for, she didn’t know the answer, and when asked what medications she was taking, she said that she had no idea and hadn’t taken any medications in over a year.
She was arraigned on one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, which is a felony in Michigan, punishable by up to four years in prison and a fine of up to $2,000. Additionally, her criminal history increases the chance of a potentially longer sentence.