Published: July 08, 2009 08:35 am      

Williamsburg man beats acquaintance with baseball bat

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

A Williamsburg man allegedly beat an acquaintance with a baseball bat after the acquaintance supposedly urinated on the floor and exposed himself while the pair was drinking together.

The Whitley County 911 Dispatch Center received a call at about 9 p.m. stating that a man was beating someone with a baseball bat outside of the Mt. Morgan Apartments.

Upon arrival, Lt. Jason Caddell found the victim lying in the breeze way of an apartment building with a beaten and broken leg.

Officer Mike Taylor, Sgt. Brad Boyd, and Officer Shawn Jackson found the suspect, 43-year-old Vince E. Petry, inside his nearby apartment.

Petry admitted to striking his friend because the man urinated on his floor and exposed himself to his wife.

“He said he wasn’t upset that he urinated in his apartment. He was upset that he exposed himself to his wife,” Jackson said.

Officers noticed a “wet spot” on the apartment floor, but the victim said he couldn’t remember why Petry struck him with the bat.

Both Petry and the victim appeared to be highly intoxicated, Jackson said.

Jackson said the victim, who’s name was not released, was still trying to walk on the leg when officers and EMS arrived, even though “both bones were broken and had punctured the skin when we got there... it was pretty gruesome.”

The victim was taken to Jellico Hospital and later transported to a different facility for treatment of a serious compound fracture. Petry was taken to the Whitley County Jail on charges of second-degree assault.

Assistant Chief Rick Mosley recovered the weapon inside the residence and Det. Bobby Freeman analyzed and photographed the crime scene.