Altercation leaves two with injuries and two in county jail

Published 10:39 am Thursday, April 5, 2018

By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Two people are charged with assaults after an altercation at a North Main Street home where two others were beaten with a baseball bat.

The Salisbury Police Department charged Melvin Dewayne Bookhart, 32, of the 1400 block of North Main Street, and Jonathan Charles Fitzpatrick, 21, of the 200 block of Everhart Avenue, Landis, with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

Police say Michael Floyd was struck twice in the head by Bookhart and Robert Jones was struck in the left knee by Fitzpatrick.

A neighbor called in about a disturbance at Bookhart’s home, reporting a fight among a white man, a black man and a woman in the front yard.

Police officers met with Raymond Bookhart, who told them that “it was a mess” but the situation was over. He said some women were fighting about electricity being turned off, according to a police report.

About the same time, a woman dropped off a man at the emergency room of Novant Health Rowan Medical Center. She said he had been injured by someone with a baseball bat.

Police say the fight began over a Facebook post.

Police say neither Floyd nor Jones suffered major injuries. Both Fitzpatrick and Melvin Bookhart remain in the Rowan County Detention Center, each under a $1,500 secured bond.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.