Suspect no hero, assaults wife with late-night snack
MELBETA — A Melbeta man remained in jail Monday after he allegedly assaulted his wife with a sandwich.
Fifty-year-old Larry Spurling is accused of disturbing the peace by “pushing (his wife) down and rubbing a sandwich in her face.”
He appeared in Scotts Bluff County Court Monday on a charge of disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor, in the alleged assault, which occurred Sunday.
According to an arrest affidavit, Spurling’s wife had called 911 and reported that the suspect had assaulted her at about 10 p.m. on Sunday. The woman told responding deputies that her husband had become irate, blaming her for making him live in the country and for his boredom.
During the argument, she said, her husband drank three 24-ounce cans of malt liquor. The woman “got tired” of the argument, the deputy said, made herself a sandwich and went into the bedroom.
Shortly after the woman went into the bedroom, her husband followed her and continued to argue with her. The argument became physical, with both parties pushing each other around the bedroom.
“During the altercation between Mr. Spurling and his wife, Mr. Spurling pulled Ms. Spurling’s hair, pushed her down onto the bed, took the sandwich and began rubbing it into Ms. Spurling’s face,” the deputy said in the report.
Court documents don’t detail the ingredients, stating only that the responding deputy found several pieces of lunchmeat on the carpet outside of the Spurling’s bedroom and some pieces of sandwich bread inside the bedroom. Spurling’s wife also had mayonnaise stains on her shirt, which she said were the result of her husband rubbing the sandwich in her face. She said she had washed mayonnaise from her face and hair before the deputy arrived.
Another resident of the home, a woman, told deputies she had heard a verbal argument between the couple, but that she did not witness any violence while the couple were in the living room.
Before deputies arrived, Spurling had left the home. During that time, power to the trailer had been disconnected.
Deputies found Spurling lying face down on grass about 10 feet from the home. Officers placed him under arrest for domestic assault, though he denied the allegations and claimed his wife had assaulted him.
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