An argument over a lost hoodie led to a juvenile being hit in the head with a container of French onion dip Thursday.
Deputies from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home on Oak Hill Road. While en route they were notified that the man they needed to speak to, later identified as Michael Ray Ginn, had left the home in a vehicle.
They noticed a vehicle matching dispatch’s description and activated their emergency equipment. The vehicle, reportedly being driven by Ginn, did not immediately stop. Instead the driver drove the truck to the driveway at his home, where a woman and juvenile boy were standing outside waiting on deputies.
Deputies spoke with the woman who allegedly told them that her son had gotten off the school bus and Ginn asked the boy where his hoodie was. When the child explained to Ginn that he had lost the hoodie, Ginn “became enraged” and began to scream at the woman that she “never paid for nothing.”
She reportedly told deputies that Ginn attempted to hit her with a container of French onion dip, but missed her and hit the child in the back of the head. She also said he threw a phone book at her.
Ginn had a different version of the story. He said the child did come in without the brand new hoodie and that he went into the living room and sat down without saying anything. He said the woman came in and began arguing with him and since he was in the refrigerator getting French onion dip he did throw it at her. However, Ginn said he never hit anyone.
Deputies found a container of French onion dip and a phone book on the floor in the bedroom. They also found that Ginn, whom they had followed to the home in his truck, had his license suspended since 2010 for controlled substance and should not have been driving in the first place.
Ginn was arrested and transported to the Newton County Detention Center where he was charged with cruelty to children, simple battery and driving on a suspended license.
Chamber, Redevelopment Authority member arrested
Prominent Republican backer James Clayton Newman was arrested in Cobb County last month and charged with DUI, at least his second this year.
Newman was arrested on Interstate 285 at Paces Ferry Road around 1 a.m. on Oct. 15. According to the arrest report from Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, the 58-year-old Newton County resident was charged with crossing the median/divided highway, improper lane change, revoked/suspended driver’s license and DUI.
This is not the first DUI arrest for Newman, who is active in the Covington Redevelopment Authority and on the board of the Newton County Chamber of Commerce. In April he was arrested on Usher Street and charged with DUI second offense after he reportedly cut in front of a Covington Police Officer. He was first arrested in for DUI in Newton County in April 2010.
Georgia law requires that after a second DUI offense the driver’s license be revoked for three years, hence the most recent charge of revoked/suspended driver’s license from Cobb County.
For a third DUI the driver faces a fine of $1,000-$5,000, a mandatory prison sentence of 120 days to 12 months with no less than 15 days of incarceration time, minimum 30 days of community service, competition of the Risk Reduction program, a clinical evaluation, then completion of a substance abuse treatment program, 12 months probation (minus time served) and a five year license suspension.
Newman was bonded out of the Cobb County jail at 5:32 p.m. on Oct. 15. He is not yet on the court docket.
