Hot head

Stotts City’s Hutchison charged with domestic assault, resisting arrest; allegedly threatened woman, set car on fire near Mt. Vernon square
A Stotts City man was arrested on Tuesday, Feb. 10, after he allegedly threatened a woman, vandalized her car, set it on fire, and fought against a Mt. Vernon Police officer’s attempt to take him into custody. William Hutchison, 42, is charged with fourth-degree domestic assault and resisting arrest.
According to the probable cause statement in the case, on Feb. 10, Mt. Vernon Police officers were dispatched to the 200 block of Hickory Street, one block south of the Mt. Vernon square, and informed that Hutchison was throwing things around inside the victim’s car. A woman who was identified as the victim in the case had reported that Hutchison had flattened the tires of the car with a knife and was walking southward on Hickory Street on foot.
An officer reported seeing Hutchison and ordered him to stop and show her his hands. Hutchison reportedly put his hands near his head but continued walking, allegedly saying, “No, I don’t gotta stop and talk to you,” and “You have no reason to talk to me.”
The officer said that she repeated her orders to Hutchison and said that she had received a call regarding him. Hutchison, she said, eventually stopped and asked why he was being stopped. The officer repeated that she had received a call regarding him. She said that she then attempted to pat him down, but he objected, saying, “Don’t touch me,” and backed away from her.
The officer said she then attempted to put Hutchison’s arms behind his back to detain him, but he resisted and pulled away from her. Eventually, she said, she was able to lean Hutchison over the front of a police vehicle. He was then helped into the vehicle and taken to the Lawrence County Jail. The officer also reported that she noted an injury on Hutchison’s hand and offered him medical assistance, but he refused it. She said that he also told her that he had gotten into an argument with the victim and punched the windshield, causing the injury to his hand. At about this time, the victim reportedly called dispatch and informed them that her car was on fire.

Victim’s account
The officer later spoke with the victim. She reported that the victim told her that, after she parked along Hickory Street that day, Hutchison approached her and got into her car. She asked what he was doing, and allegedly, Hutchison threatened to vandalize her car and then ordered her, “Get into the (expletive) car now.”
The victim said she refused because she’d had previous altercations with Hutchison, so she closed the car door. Shortly afterward, she said, she heard a crash and saw Hutchison making gestures with his arm, which she said indicated that he might have punctured her tires. After that, she said, Hutchison was walking away from the vehicle quickly, and when she looked at the car again, she saw flames coming from inside it. The woman also told the officer that she believed that if she’d gotten into the car with Hutchison, she’d be dead.
Hutchison was booked into the Lawrence County Jail on Feb. 10; he was released the next day and is scheduled to make an initial appearance in court on Monday, March 24.
In response to an inquiry made to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office on Friday, Feb. 21, as to whether Hutchison would face any charges related to the alleged destruction of the victim’s car, a member of the office staff stated that Darlene Parrigon, Lawrence County Prosecuting Attorney, was the only person who could charge him, and that she was out of town for another week.