Man is pounded with pipe

Independent Staff

GALLUP — The McKinley County Sheriff's Department is investigating an aggravated battery that occurred in Gamerco.

Sheriff officials said Thursday they are looking for a Gallup High School student in connection with the incident that was being described as a battery on a household member.

According to the report, police were called to respond to a report of a fight at a home in Gamerco late Saturday.

When they arrived at the scene, they found Walter Perry, 36, who was bleeding from the nose. Because of his intoxicated condition, he was unable to tell sheriff deputies what happened.

Finally, after about six attempts to find out what happened, Perry told police that his girlfriend's brother had hit him with a pipe. The girlfriend, identified as Pauline Paddock, 24, told police that she didn't see anything because she was asleep.

About 10 minutes later, she did tell police that Perry and her brother, Tyrone Tom, 18, had been drinking when Perry began talking "smack" and her brother got mad. At that point, she said, she passed out and didn't see the actual fight.

Perry then told police that Tom picked up a pipe he found in the bedroom and hit him twice with it. He was then checked out by medics and refused treatment.

Police said that Tom had fled the scene before they had arrived.