Woman charged after disruption at barber shop

Police say when a woman caused a scene in a local barbershop, the barber walked out while a neighbor called law enforcement. By the time officers arrived, the woman had left but they soon received another call about her.

According to court records, on Jan. 8 about 5 p.m. Alva police officers Sean Farris and Kaleb Keplinger were dispatched to the Alva Tag Office regarding a disruptive individual identified as Sara Churchill. The tag office employees told them the barber in the same building, Brian Venosdel, had left because Churchill was screaming and being disruptive to his customers.

They said the barber was cutting Churchill’s father’s hair when she became upset and threw water on her boyfriend Newton Baker. Churchill then left and slammed the glass door to the outside of the business. Tag office employees described Churchill as being erratic, exaggerated and disrupting the flow of traffic in her gray Chevrolet pickup.

At approximately 5:35 p.m. Farris and Keplinger were dispatched to a call at the Ampride Convenience Store regarding a loud disruptive individual. Dispatch advised the vehicle had left the parking lot and was headed eastbound on Oklahoma Boulevard. Keplinger arrived on the scene and saw a vehicle matching the description given by dispatch and tag office employees. The vehicle was leaving the Love’s parking lot to the south and east of Ampride.

Keplinger conducted a traffic stop. When approaching the vehicle, he noticed exaggerated bodily movements made by the driver. The driver, identified as Churchill, said, “I threatened him. I have done everything I can. I have even poured water on him.” She was referring to the backseat passenger, Baker.

Keplinger states that Churchill was unable to provide coherent answers to questions and was in an emotional state that fluctuated between extremes of laughing and joking and crying uncontrollably. He observed she was easily distracted and did not seem able to properly process what was being said to her.

According to Keplinger’s affidavit, Churchill said she knocked Baker to the ground and struck him with her hands and knees and threw water on him at the barber shop because he irritated her. Baker told Officer Farris about a history of violence from Churchill and that she had been violent today. Baker said he never felt he was significantly injured.

Churchill was asked to perform the standardized field sobriety tests, but she was unable to perform simple tasks without direction multiple times.

Sara Lynn Churchill, 52, of Alva, has been charged with two misdemeanors: (1) driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating substance and (2) domestic abuse – assault and battery.

 

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