A fight between father and son ended with the son in jail after deputies reportedly saw him with a machete aimed at his father.

Deputies from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home on Mills Landing around 2:50 p.m. Thursday by concerned neighbors who could hear a commotion inside the home. When deputies first approached the door of the home they could hear two men arguing heatedly inside, according to NCSO Public Information Officer Cortney Morrison. 

The door was finally opened by a 72-year-old man. While standing there the deputies noticed a man, later identified as 47-year-old Michael Reagin, holding a machete behind his father. After being threatened with Tasers, Reagin complied with deputies’ commands and dropped the machete. 

According to the victim, Reagin’s father, Reagin had recently gone through a divorce and had been “having a hard time,” according to Morrison. Reports also indicate that the victim told deputies Reagin had been drinking and taking Loratab and had become belligerent, telling his father he didn’t love him and shoving him — at one point pushing him against the wall.

The altercation moved through the house and resulted in three holes in the sheet rock of the garage and a hole in the partition between the kitchen and living room of the house — all reportedly put there by Reagin and his machete. 

Reagin was arrested and transported to the Newton County Detention Center where he remains as of press time, charged with Family Violence Act aggravated assault. 

Student charged with aggravated assault at EHS

A 15-year-old Eastside High School student is facing charged of aggravated assault after knocking another teen unconscious during a fight Wednesday afternoon.

School Resource Officer and Newton County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Cortney Morrison said she was in the commons area of the school when she heard a disturbance in F-hallway, near the vending machines. When she looked she saw a large group of students blocking the hallway. As Morrison headed in that direction she said she heard a student yell “police!” and she noticed “arms flinging above the crowd.”

When she pushed through the crowd Morrison said she saw two male students — one 15, the other 16 — in a physical altercation. As she was running towards them and yelling for them to stop, she saw the youngest male strike the other in the face with a closed fist, knocking the other teen unconscious. 

Morrison was able to grab the younger teen and handcuff him. The other boy regained consciousness and was able to walk to the office and wait for EMS to come and check him out. According to Morrison, both teens had “visible injuries.” The victim’s lip, mouth and nose were injured and the alleged aggressor’s hand was swollen and discolored.

According to Morrison, deputies are still trying to find out what the fight was about. Although it has not been confirmed, she said it may have been that the victim was being picked on.