Background: The apartment complex in Waco, Texas where police responded to calls of an assault (Google Maps). Inset: Dominick Rangel (McLennan County Sheriff's Office).
A Texas man is accused of assaulting his pregnant girlfriend after she told him he might not be the baby's father.
Local CBS affiliate KWTX reported that Dominick Rangel, 21, posted $5,000 bond after he was charged with assault of a pregnant person and arrested by police in Waco on Wednesday. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by KWTX, Rangel's girlfriend called police on Tuesday afternoon after Rangel allegedly struck her several times and started "breaking things" in their apartment.
The woman had reportedly just found out she was pregnant, and she had told Rangel that he might not be the father of the baby.
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According to the affidavit, the woman told police that she and Rangel had been a couple for five years and had a son together. She and Rangel had gone through a rough patch and broken up for a short time before getting back together. After they reunited, the couple moved into an apartment with the woman's grandmother.
On Monday, the couple had an argument that culminated in the woman telling Rangel that he needed to move out. The tension reportedly escalated the next day. While she and Rangel were lying in bed, he reportedly asked her what her family would do if "she had a child with another man." She told police that she laughed and said she would still have her family's support.
Police said that was when Rangel became angry and allegedly punched the woman several times in the back. The woman told police that Rangel asked her if she would get an abortion, and she said that she believed that him "hitting her in the back" was "in an attempt to" cause a miscarriage.
According to the affidavit, the woman told police that Rangel was trying to steal their son's Social Security card before officers arrived.
Rangel was taken into custody at the apartment without incident. After he was arrested on Wednesday, he posted $5,000 bond and was released from jail.
