This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Grand County sheriff's deputy accused of assaulting his wife claims he punched her in the face in self defense, according to police.
Austin Stubblefield was arrested Sept. 20 by Moab police officers investigating a domestic violence allegation and booked into San Juan County Jail. He was released about an hour later on $5,000 bond.
Police allege Stubblefield, 35, committed domestic violence aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. The Grand County Sheriff's Office had jurisdiction over the case but wanted the Moab Police Department to investigate because a sheriff's employee was involved in the incident.
According to a probable cause statement, Stubblefield's wife said she and her husband got into an argument about their children and that she deliberately knocked his two pairs of glasses off a dresser. The womansaid her husband got very angry, and that the next thing she remembers is waking up in the bathroom.
Stubblefield was wiping her hands off with a rag, the wife said, and she was "very dazed and confused after she had regained consciousness," the probable cause statement says.
The woman called two friends, who took her to the emergency room at Moab Regional Hospital, the statement says. Officers were told that she had a broken nose, a fractured right orbital socket, several right ear lacerations that required stitches, a chipped front tooth and a concussion, according to the statement.
When police arrested Stubblefield at his residence, he allegedly said that his head and left ear hurt and he wanted to be checked by medical personnel. After being checked at the hospital, he was taken to jail.
A Grand County dispatcher told police the deputy had contacted her and said he had punched his wife in the face but that it was in self defense, the probable cause statement says. Stubblefield also sent several pictures he had taken of himself to the dispatcher that showed a small scratch with bruising under his left eyebrow and a small scratch on his left ear, the statement says.
No charges had been filed as of Wednesday, according to the court docket. Grand County Sheriff Steven White did not immediately return calls seeking information on Stubblefield's status as a deputy.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC