Police: irate swordplay cause for arrest

A Lawton man is in jail on $75,000 bond after witnesses said he got upset his girlfriend’s daughter’s boyfriend was at her house following a night at the club and he turned to swordplay.

Detrick Leon Whitehead, 43, made his initial appearance Tuesday in Comanche County District Court where he received a felony charge of assault with a dangerous weapon after two or more felony conviction and a misdemeanor charge of domestic abuse – assault and battery, records indicate. With three prior convictions, he faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the felony.

Police and first responders were called around 3:10 a.m. Saturday morning to 918 NE Tortoise Drive following a call about a domestic and a man possibly armed with a gun. Officers arrived to find broken glass on the porch. Whitehead was detained.

Lawton Police Officer VanNessa Ball stated she spoke with Whitehead’s girlfriend, who had blood on her hand and the corners of her mouth. She said they’d come home from the bar and Whitehead became upset her daughter’s boyfriend was at the home. Once in the home, she said, Whitehead began throwing things and was purposely loud and when she told him he needed to leave, he punched her in the mouth, the probable cause affidavit states. She told her daughter and her boyfriend to leave.

Whitehead picked up a sword and began swinging it around aggressively at people before striking the front window, breaking it, the affidavit states. When the boyfriend tried to step in, she said, Whitehead struck him on top of the hand with the sword, Ball stated.

Whitehead has numerous prior felony convictions in Comanche County.

As part of Whitehead’s bond conditions, he is to have no contact with the alleged victims. He returns to court at 11 a.m. Nov. 8 for his preliminary hearing.