Ride with friends takes bad turn for Duncan woman

DUNCAN — A ride with friends turned into a beatdown with a woman’s own crutch to her injured leg, the theft of $20 and an arrest warrant for the woman accused of the assault.

On Tuesday, the Stephens County District Court issued a felony arrest warrant for Grace Darlene Mathews, 20, of Marlow, for a count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and a misdemeanor charge of petit larceny, records indicate.

Marlow Police Office Jace Gilley met with the victim and her grandmother on Aug. 10 following the assault. The woman is disabled and on crutches from injuries received in a 2022 accident.

The woman said Mathews and Mathews’ boyfriend picked her up to hang out. She got $20 from her grandmother and they left to go driving around, according to the probable cause affidavit. When the woman asked to get a drink at a convenience store, things went south.

They drove to a park and the women got into an argument. It escalated, she said, when Mathews crawled from the driver’s seat into the back and began punching her, the affidavit states. The woman opened the back door, fell out and crawled outside.

Mathew is accused of getting out of the vehicle, grabbing the woman’s crutches and of hitting her twice in her injured left knee, according to the affidavit. When she threatened to call the police, she said Mathews’ boyfriend threatened to shoot her in the face if she did and they took the $20, Gilley stated. Knowing the grandmother knew where the woman was, the couple offered to take her home if she didn’t say anything and she said no.

The woman called her grandmother, who picked her up, took her home and called police. After speaking with Gilley, the woman was taken to Duncan Regional Hospital. During that time, Mathews messaged the woman on Facebook to say she would bring $10 of the $20 back; the other $10 had been used for gas, according to the affidavit.

Gilley stated there was obvious denting to one of the woman’s crutches showing damage from the assault.

A $10,000 cash bond was issued upon Mathews’ arrest.